


Glitchy Variables

by twilitalks



Series: Glitchy Variables [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (sort of), Alphyne, Alphys/Undyne-centric, Alternate Universe - Monsters Weren't Sealed Underground, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Romance, amalgamates still exist, bc god forbid alphys is happy, but they still have bad relations with the humans occasionally, mermaid au, mermaid!undyne
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 23:11:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 43,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12518740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilitalks/pseuds/twilitalks
Summary: Dr Alphys, under the pressures of all her failures, finds herself slowly slipping away and losing the will to continue.By some twisted miracle, she lives, unsure as to how it was even remotely possible. Clearly someone rescued her, but who?And Papyrus won't stop going on about his new friend.Alphys, with all her scientific and dating sim knowledge, considered herself well-prepared. But no amount of science and shoujo anime could've prepared her for someone like Undyne.(mermaid!undyne au)





	1. But Somebody Came

**Author's Note:**

> hey its 2017 and i still love alphyne and mermaids so i birthed this nonsense bye
> 
> (tw for suicide attempt in this chapter)

As a scientist, Dr Alphys was convinced she had seen a lot in her lifetime. She considered herself very knowledgable on certain subjects, to the point it was kind of an issue. She felt like it took very little to really shock or surprise her anymore.

And yet, Papyrus sure had a way of knocking that idea down each and every time.

“What…?” She blinked in surprise at his story, her hands still messing with the tools she had been tampering the robotic part with. She needed to finish this repair for some part that had gotten damaged inside Mettaton during an “intense dance move”. He laid, powered off, across the lab table, with Alphys effortlessly working on his robotic body.

“Like a monster,” Papyrus clarified, watching Alphys work with interest. “But they live inside the water instead of outside, like us!”

“T-That doesn’t make any sense……” Alphys mumbled before she could really stop herself. She winced a little, she hadn't meant for it to come out harshly like that, but it was true.

“I disagree!” Papyrus replied, not seeming to be bothered at all by Alphys immediately shooting him down. He was confused- he was sure she would jump at something so new and exciting to research. She usually did, but lately…

“I think it makes perfect sense!”

“Scientifically, I mean…” Alphys clarified, before furrowing her brow and leaning forward to get a closer look at one of Mettaton’s inner motors. Was that… glitter?

“Why wouldn't it?”

How did glitter even _get_ inside there? She pulled her hand away, only to find it now covered in pink glitter as well.

“I mean, there's some Elemental monsters- like Grillby and Heat Flamesman-”

Alphys shot Mettaton a look, but he was shut down, so he didn't respond in the slightest. She'd have to talk to him about his glitter addiction. Again.

“-So maybe there's some water elementals too!”

Alphys sighed, wiping her glittery hands off on her lab coat before continuing to screw the dislodged piece back into the right place.

“M-maybe…… uh, maybe you just…… I don't know……” She didn't want to come off as accusatory. “Maybe it was just…… your imagination….?”

Papyrus started stamping his foot on the lab floor, making Alphys jump a bit with anxiety.  

“Un. Be. _Lievable_!” Papyrus shouted, which he normally did, but it still made Alphys become jumpy and agitated every time.

“You don't believe me!”

“N-no! No I didn't say that….!” She frantically apologized. This is why she preferred to work alone. She liked being alone. She was used to it. Nobody yelled at her.

“I saw it, Dr Alphys, I swear!” He insisted. Alphys gave him a withering look.

“I-I think…. that….. m…. maybe someone's just messing with you…. o-or-” She stopped, took a breath, an attempt to stop her nervous stuttering. “Or, maybe you just mistook it for something….”

Papyrus huffed, clearly annoyed, and Alphys watched her own shaking claws tamper with the piece inside of Mettaton that was shifted out of place. She let out her own, small, huff of breath, annoyed at herself for being as jumpy as she was. Papyrus was so nice, and sweet, and kind…. but he was also very loud. Alphys enjoyed seeing him in intervals (which was pretty much how she enjoyed interacting with others, anyways. In intervals.), but sometimes his excitement made her nervous.

“what's all the fuss about?” Another voice questioned, rounding the corner and joining the two.

“Dr Alphys won't believe me!” Papyrus insisted suddenly, before she could speak up. “The Great Papyrus would _never_ lie!” He defended.

“I n-never said-!”

“its true. paps doesn't even know how to lie.” Sans teased.

Alphys sighed, one that Mettaton would commend as full of drama and personality if he was conscious.

“hey, lighten up, doc.” Sans said, patting her on the back. It didn't help.

“Sans, do you believe me?” Papyrus questioned.

“i already told ya i did.”

“See!” Papyrus motioned dramatically towards his brother, who leaned against the lab worktable lazily.

“Sans is too much of a lazybones to lie!”

He didn't argue. Alphys sighed again, reaching in and scooping out a clump of glitter from Mettaton’s torso.

“O-okay….. I just…… I don't know what to say then.” Alphys admitted, timidly. “It just doesn't sound plausible. Where would that type of monster even appear from…?”

Papyrus shrugged. It wasn't very helpful.

Alphys frowned, pushing her glasses up. “Well, m-maybe…… I don’t know what it is so…… maybe you should stay away from that place. If we don't know what it is.” She concluded, but she wasn't even sure why Papyrus had come to someone as unimportant as her about this. Why her? Why not Asgore? Or Toriel?

Oh well. She shifted the motor piece back into place with a grunt, before sighing and closing Mettaton back up.

“There…” she announced, before plugging him back up to charge.

“Uh….. we…. should probably just leave him to rest….” Alphys said, unsure of how to politely ask the two skeletons to leave.

“got it. come on, papyrus.” Sans encouraged, leading his brother out of the lab.

“Oh! Alright! Goodbye, Mettaton!” Papyrus waved to the unconscious robot. Alphys smiled a bit, guiding them away from the lab table and towards the door.

\---

Once Mettaton came-to, Alphys was well invested in some pink, sparkly anime and the instant noodles she was eating. He sighed, seeing this, before coming up behind the sofa and leaning on the back of it, dramatically sprawling out with his legs over Alphys’s lap. She yelped a bit, not realizing he had woken up, but she calmed when she saw who it was.

“Alphys, darling,” Mettaton started, yawning. Alphys braced herself for whatever drama he was about to begin.

“I don't know how to say this nicely.”

“Well….” Alphys took a moment to slurp up the last bit of fattening noodles. “Maybe don't say it then.” She teased.

He frowned, almost pouted, but Alphys ignored it.

“Darling… you need a date.”

Alphys whipped her head to face Mettaton, her jaw dropping. He stared back at her, unimpressed. That wasn't where she thought this was headed _at all._ She figured he was there to complain about the anime, or the unhealthy noodles, or literally anything else. She felt shame suddenly curl up from inside her.

“W-what?”

“You heard me.” And she had. She just didn't know what to say. She stared down at her cup noodles, at all the stray noodles messily littering the inside of the cup.

“No I don't….. I'm …. n-not interested in that kind of stuff.” She lied. She blatantly lied and she winced as soon as it left her mouth. Mettaton gave her an exasperated look.

“Oh, no, you are not about to lie directly to my face like that.” He scoffed. “You get crushes like it's the end of the world.”

She frowned, squirmed uncomfortably. It was true, but….. she never acted on them. Obviously. Why would she?

“But, still….. i-I don't do…..” she gestured vaguely at the air. Mettaton blinked.  

“..... What is that supposed to even mean.”

“ _Dating.”_ She clarified. Mettaton sighed, leaning his head back so it tipped over the arm of the sofa. Then he made a frustrated noise.

“That's my point, dear! You need to date!”

“I don't _need_ to…”

“Yes, you do.”

“It's not biologically mandator-”

“Alphys, you're really going to make me come out and say it, aren't you?” He glanced back up at her hopelessly. She stared back at him as well, really wanting the uncomfortable conversation to end. He sighed, then spoke up again, much to the scientist’s horror:

“You need to get _laid.”_

Alphys, now bright red, chucked the cup noodles at Mettaton’s head.

“M-mettaton! That's- that's not funny!” She glared at the robot who was laughing, kicking his legs a bit.

“What? I'm serious!” He insisted, and she huffed and shoved his legs away, shifting to watch the anime again and ignore him.

“Alphys, I'm serious.” He repeated, actually sounding serious this time. She ignored him still.

“You're too invested in work. Or anime. Or fanfiction. Literally anything that can fill up that empty hole where another monster should be.”

Alphys curled up a bit, hating the conversation. She didn't want to talk about this. She didn't like herself enough to talk about it. It made her uncomfortable, sick to her stomach. She liked to pretend all of that didn't really exist in the real world- romance and dating and falling in love and all the things she knew she wasn't going to ever experience fully. But yet, she lived with Mettaton, who seemed to breathe a need for romance.

“T-that's not true…… I just…. have hobbies.”

“Or excuses.”

“I don't want to date! A-anyone!” She insisted, agitated.

“You don't want to, or you think you can't?”

“C-can we please talk about something e-else? _Please?”_ She cringed at her voice trembling and stuttering. She didn't like this topic. It made her heart sink and stomach turn.

“This is important- we need to talk about it one day!”

Tears started to sting at her eyes, and she felt anxious and willed herself not to cry.

“N-no, we don't…… it's never going to happen…..” She mumbled, but Mettaton heard her. “I don't need to date or ….” She faltered, turning red. “ _Get laid_ or a-anything like that. I don't need to worry about it.”

Mettaton frowned, but said nothing. He figured the conversation would end poorly, but he knew it was a work-in-progress.

“.... Alphys,” He spoke up again, softer, more genuine and sincere. “I'm only saying this because I care for you.”

“I-I know….”

“I want you to be happy.”

“I am.” She lied. It didn't take effort- she was used to that one.

“I want you to know you're worthy of it.”

Alphys frowned. She stayed silent. On screen, she watched the two characters confess, and instead of excitement like she had felt the entire series building up towards that moment, she just felt heavy.

Was that even real? Actual, unconditional love? She couldn't really relate- both characters were beautiful with little flaws, of course they could love each other unconditionally. There was little conditions to worry about. She sighed, heavily. It came from her very soul.

“C…. can we just, uh…. not talk about my lack of a love-life….?”

Mettaton sighed dramatically, taking the cue to stop the conversation from getting too depressing, and kicked his leg out for good measure. Alphys couldn't help but smile just a bit.

“Well, _someone_ around here needs to hurry up and get with someone! It's getting boring in the Romance Department here!”

“Well, what about you….?” She asked.

He blinked at her. “What about me?”

“Why don't you, uh…..”

“Date?”

“Yeah, that.”

Mettaton sighed. “I think my standards are too high.”

Alphys made a fake gasp of surprise, and he tossed a sofa pillow at her in annoyance.

“Oh, quiet, you!” He scolded, but she only laughed. “It's a real problem!”

“I …. I think you're too much of a perfectionist….” Alphys provided. He nodded.

“That's probably it.” He frowned.

\---

Alphys enjoyed the few times she had to work at the aquarium. It wasn't a science too familiar to her, but she liked helping out with whatever she could (it made her feel useful). It was calming to watch the fish, as well, and watching Toriel take her tiny class on field trips made her heart warm.

But surprisingly, it was much less hectic of a place than she had originally expected. Perhaps it was the neighborhood, or that it hired monster staff as  well as human staff that lowered its appeal, or just a lack of successful advertisement, but Alphys didn't mind. Papyrus worked there as well, and he would often chat excitedly to her so didn't feel too lonely.

“What type of shark is that….?” She found herself asking, quietly, fascinated.

“Oh!” Papyrus exclaimed happily. “Actually, that's a Sawfish!”

Alphys stared up at it from where she stood, in the Shark Exhibit tube. She felt conflicted. She hugged her arms around herself out of a way to comfort herself. She felt too vulnerable standing in the Shark Exhibit. The large Sawfish loomed above them, gliding through the water with its blade-covered snout.  It looked very menacing, and dangerous, and it made her feel uncomfortable and uneasy. It could easily kill her, or any other sharks, or even the other rays that delicatedly floated about, couldn't it?

But it didn't. It moved very slowly, not seeming to bother anything else or care. It moved gracefully around the tank with little purpose. Almost like it wouldn't attack her if she came close. It was beautiful, in an odd way, and Alphys could easily find herself watching it for hours on end, fascinated by its frightening charm.

Even so, at the same time, it was incredibly terrifying. But it was nice to watch its beauty from a distance.

“..... but they look just like all the other sharks, right?” Papyrus finished, and Alphys only then realized he had been speaking the entire time. She nodded, quickly, not wanting to admit she hadn't been paying attention.

“... What about that one….?” She asked again, passively interested, and motioned to an almost indistinguishable, smaller shark that laid on the flat floor of the Shark Exhibit. Simply breathing. Existing.

“That’s a Nurse Shark!” Papyrus explained with great enthusiasm. Alphys moved closer to the shadowy tank, squinting to get a better look at it as Papyrus continued his impromptu lesson on Nurse Sharks. Cupping her hands to block out the light of the exhibit, she took a closer look. She watched it wordlessly, waiting. Wondering if it would move, or interact with other sharks. But it didn’t. In fact, it kind of avoided them all entirely. 

She opened her mouth to ask why, but without warning another shark crossed her vision, and she yelped with surprise and jumped back and away from the tank.

\---

Alphys shuddered as she closed the basement door, leaning against it and sinking down to the floor, covering her face with her hands. Her soul squeezed with uncomfortable guilt, and she found herself struggling to breathe. It was always like this after going into the True Lab. Her body trembled, burning tears falling down her face as she sobbed with little abandon.

 _Screw up,_ the voice inside her reminded her. Not that she needed much of a reminder.

_You’re such a screw up._

She felt a painful pang in her chest, and she let out another sob, her body trembling enough to make her feel nauseous. It was true. She had screwed up everything. It was all a horrific failure. She’d ruined all their lives….

_How can you even go on like this? Do you think you deserve to?_

She collapsed onto the floor entirely, curling up and choking on the air desperately trying to fill her lungs.

She couldn’t live like this. Not with all this guilt. Not with all the horrible atrocities she had committed…

She had had enough. She was tired of the days dragging on endlessly. She couldn’t live the rest of her miserable life like this. She was just… so tired…..

She was tired of it all.

Trembling, she got up to her feet and shakily headed towards a desk. Frantically, she grabbed at a pen and paper. Her mind was clouded, but she had written this exact note so many times in her head she could do so on autopilot.

She addressed Mettaton first. She apologized for not being a better friend. For not being able to make him as perfect as she possibly could. For being boring, for being depressed, for being annoying, for being awful… For being a waste of time.

She moved onto Asgore next. She apologized for all her failures as a scientist, for all her lies, for her weakness…

Her head pounded painfully, but she ignored it. Next, she frantically scribbled words to the Amalgamates. She scrawled all of their names, not looking back as she moved on to the next, then the next. She apologized for destroying them. For ruining their lives, for condemning them to a life like this in the name of science. For everything she had done, but it wasn't enough. Apologizing wasn't enough. They deserved so much more than all her empty words. She felt herself cry harder as she wrote to them. Every word she wrote wasn't enough.

All her secrets spilled onto the page, ink smearing in some places in her hasty attempt, but it wasn't enough. There wasn't anything she could say to fix her mistakes.

_Why bother?_

Alphys collapsed onto her desk, and sobbed, violently. Loudly. Shamelessly. All things she never was. Even her final words were going to be stupid, pointless, and unimportant. Her heart pounded in her ears, reminding her that she was still alive. It made her stomach turn. It reminded her that she was _still alive_ despite not deserving it. She was disgusting. So many people, so many monsters deserved to be alive. And she was definitely not one of them.

Lightheaded, she eventually lifted her head up, and squinted at the clock on the wall through her tears. Mettaton was still out on his interview……

_“Alphys, darling!” He exclaimed that morning, waltzing into the kitchen. “This is it! This is going to be my big break!” He insisted, though he said that every time._

Alphys shuddered, and turned back towards the messy note, moving back towards the beginning and writing in one final piece to her friend.

 

 

_Good Luck on your big break, MTT. You’re going to be a star..._

 

\---

“Alphys, my dear!” Mettaton exclaimed with exasperation, strutting into the house with style and purpose. He didn’t wait for a response as he continued. “Have I got a story for you!” He tossed his bag onto the kitchen counter as he walked into the house, and paused.

....

“Alphys?” He called again, stopping and listening for a response this time after not hearing any groans of annoyance or video game music. He walked and checked the other rooms in the house. Empty. Eerily empty. She hadn’t mentioned she would be late, or that she would be going out…. In fact, it was rare for her to voluntarily leave the house at all. Something odd creeped up against Mettaton’s soul, but he pushed it away.

He wandered around the house again, concern growing.

“Alphys!” He called yet again, this time with frustration.  There was no sign of her anywhere. Not even a half finished soda or an anime playlist left on an open laptop. He settled to call her, or text her, or _anything._ He knew she was terrible around phones, but this was unsettling, so she would have to deal.

He pressed his phone to his ear, and mentally begged that some miracle would happen and she would actually pick up a phone for once, his eyes glancing towards the front door, then frowned. There was a note on the back of it he hadn’t noticed walking in. Had Alphys left it there?

He walked over, and skimmed through it.

With a horrified gasp, his phone clattered to the floor, and Mettaton frantically rushed out the door again.

\---

Alphys always enjoyed the beach, but she didn’t go very often. Good things must happen in moderate dosages for one to truly appreciate them, she figured, and she didn’t want to lessen the glamor and beauty of it by getting accustomed to it. She didn’t enjoy getting in the water too much, but the warmth of the sun was always comforting.

Visiting at night always had a different atmosphere to it, though. The air was heavy, and the breeze chilled her down to her bones. But at the same time, she didn't really feel it. She didn't really feel much of anything anymore, besides disgust in herself and an overwhelming pain in her soul.

The steady pounding of her heart stabbed at her eardrums, it matched every blank step forward she took. The wind whipped around her, but she didn’t mind it. She couldn’t really register it anymore, anyway. She hadn’t even realized she had gotten to the edge of the old, wooden pier until she was staring directly into the dark, deep ocean. The waves calmly crashed against the pier’s legs, back and forth, back and forth…… Something stable. Something constant. Something calming amidst the radio static echoing in her mind.

Guilt weighed her down, because the view was ashamedly familiar. Promising. An easy way out. That’s what she was used to, right? Cutting corners? Avoiding her problems?

Taking the easy way out?

She took a shaky breath, her lungs begging for air. The part of her brain that yearned to survive kicked her heartbeat up, faster, faster….. Her lungs filled with heavy air and salt, it scratched at her throat and skin and reminded her that she was still alive.

That very fact felt like poison injected directly to her bloodstream. A bitter laugh escaped her, and tumbled into a sob. She was pretty familiar with injecting poisons into others bloodstreams, wasn’t she?

It wasn’t helping. She cried, desperately looking towards the abyss of the night water, looking for an answer, for comfort, for the will to continue despite it all crashing down around her. To tell her to turn back. To not be a coward. It didn’t supply her with any of it this time.

Trembling, she gripped onto the rotten wooden bars of the pier, the wind swallowing up her cries for relief, for help, for anything…

Even _this_ had given up on her.

This must be it, she accepted finally, tears still streaming down her face as she noisily cried. This is what the end of the road felt like.

She suddenly felt embarrassed for leaving a note. It’s not like anyone would’ve gone looking for her, but at least no one would be framed if the police went looking. Not that they would...

Struggling to breathe, she got up to her feet, and accepted her unsatisfying fate. Dr Alphys stood at the edge of the pier, took a deep breath, then let herself go tumbling down with the rest of her world.

 

\---

At the very least, she expected to feel her weak monster soul rip in half, or to feel her brain cut off into darkness, but the process wasn’t actually as easy as she’d hoped. She expected the intial struggle between the powerful, tumbling waves, but her body still fought, even though her brain had given up her instincts desperately screamed at her to survive. It only made it more agonizing, but perhaps she deserved it. She had put so many monsters through pain, she deserved this…

With a burning sensation, salt water quickly filled her lungs, and then the panic set in. Unable to help herself, she clawed desperately at the water surrounding her, terror pounding in her brain and throughout her veins.

Regret. Torment. She couldn’t even escape it in her very last moments, and as she felt something strong forcefully tug against her now limp body, she hoped she’d at least dissipate before she felt the pain of whatever creature had grabbed her to make her their next meal. She expected it to feel more like powering down, but it felt more like turning off a light, and all at once, just like that, the world around her was gone.

 

….

 Alphys welcomed the terrifying peace, then world flashed viciously against her eyes again, and an indescribable ache coursed through her body. She felt the colors of the world appear before her eyes, but none of them made any sense, and Alphys found herself too distracted by the agonizing feeling of coughing up stinging salt water. She just wanted it to be over. She wanted an easy way out, she wanted her lungs to stop filling with the painful, burning salt air. She wanted to stop hearing such a loud heartbeat in her ears. Her eyes tried to focus, guided by anxiety, but the colors all splashed her vision like a messy, blue and red mosaic art piece, so she closed them again and waited for it to pass.

When her senses focused again, she hadn’t been too sure how much time had passed. It all seemed simultaneously endless and yet like it had been over in seconds, but her body shot up against her will and begun to gasp, coughing for air wildly. She heard someone talking to her, but it felt like a thick material was stuffed in her ears. She blinked at the something in front of her, the something talking, as her chest puffed up and down, loyal to a bitter fault. It took her a while to realize it was Mettaton, who was beeping and chattering wildly and occasionally hugging Alphys, who said nothing and simply trembled under her own frantic lungs.

When Mettaton pulled away from another hug, he was shaking too. Or maybe he had been the entire time, but Alphys only realized it then. Her eyes focused, and her senses slowly returned to her. She felt the grains of sand and salt covering them, saw them against Mettaton’s shiny pink metal, surrounding them as they sat on the dark beach. He was yelling at her now, she thought. She wasn’t sure, so she just stared at him, feeling a pain in her lungs, chest, and head attack her full force. It stung, and before she realized, she was coughing up more sea water and crying out in pain as it happened. Mettaton stopped his yelling for a moment and tried to help, but there wasn’t much he could do.

After that last attack, the world began to truly fall into place again. She felt the cold breeze against her  soaked skin, and the piercing feeling in her chest, and the burning tears falling against her face. She could see Mettaton clearly now, and by the looks of it, he was starting to run low on battery, but he also looked horrified, angry, and relieved all at once. She could hear him speaking now, under all the agitated electronic noises he couldn’t help from making, and she began to cry again.

\---

Alphys wasn’t really a tea-type of monster at all. She enjoyed sugary, unhealthy soda and occasionally a fattening milkshake. Maybe water if she was dehydrated. Yet she found herself holding a burning mug of tea for the third time in the last 72 hours. She normally would protest, but she couldn’t find it in herself to speak up much, especially since Mettaton warned her he wouldn’t take no as an answer as he handed the mug to her. She watched the television blankly, holding the warm mug close to her heart and occasionally sipping it. It scorched the inside of her body in a comforting way, and reminded her that she was alive.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

After desperately ignoring the way Mettaton had been watching her patiently for the better part of the last three hours, she flinched when he finally spoke up:

“You know we’re going to have to talk about this.”

She shut her eyes tight, and sighed heavily. She knew that, but she still didn’t want to. So she didn’t. She stayed quiet and stared at her tea once she opened her eyes again.

“We can’t pretend it didn’t happen.” He continued, even though he saw her curl up with discomfort. “Alphys.... Please….” He pleaded softly, in a tone that she’d never heard from him before.

She grimaced as she looked at him. He gave her a soft, worried look, and she hated it. She didn’t want him to pity her.

“.....w….. We don’t h-have to….” Alphys said quietly after a moment, hoping Mettaton would just agree to take the easy path she was providing and put it behind them. He didn’t.

“Are you _kidding_ , Alphys?” He asked softly, but full of exasperation. “Alphys, I ……” He faltered a little, which surprised her. “I thought you were dead.”

 _Me too,_ she almost said, but she didn’t think the joke would land very well.

Alphys thought it was over at the beach. Mettaton had saved her, and she was angry at him for it, but also oddly relieved. It was conflicting and much too complicated to think about, so she chose not to. He demanded to rush her to the hospital, but she always hated them and begged him not to take her. The compromise was to let him examine her vitals at home, and if anything came up, they would have to go to the hospital.

Even when they came back a bit jarred, Alphys pleaded with him not to take her, but he didn’t listen and took her anyway. She had been mostly giving him the cold shoulder since then, even though her guilt was tugging at her without end. They had returned home a few hours ago, and Alphys was sure that was the end of it. They could sleep it off, and in the morning return to normal. Maybe even have a laugh about the whole thing.

“W-why did you….” She paused, curling up more under the warm blankets. “I d-didn’t…. Want to be s-s-saved…..” She finally admitted, gripping onto the warm mug. Mettaton took in a sharp breath, unsure of how to respond to it.

“Why…? Why d-did you save me….?” She asked without looking up, inexplicable anger bubbling up inside her.

Mettaton frowned. “I didn’t.”

She blinked, surprised, and looked up at him in confusion.

“I didn’t save you.” He elaborated, a grim expression on his face. “I found you…. Washed up on the beach…”

She shook her head. He was lying. That made no sense. “Mettaton-”

“Alphys,” He interrupted, serious. “I thought you were dead when I found you. I didn’t jump in to save you.”

She frowned, and looked down at the tea again. She hadn’t confirmed with him, but she had every right to assume he had. It made sense. Mettaton wasn’t entirely waterproof, yet, but she still rationalized that he was the only one who could’ve.The beach was empty at night- obviously. That’s why she went.

“T-that makes…. That makes no sense…..” She protested at her tea.

“I know.” Mettaton sighed, watching his dear friend. “Maybe….. I don’t know, maybe someone happened to pull you out, or-”

“It was empty.” She argued.

“I don’t know, okay?” Mettaton suddenly said, raising his voice. “But that’s not the issue here! We need to talk about the fact that- that…” He sighed, and Alphys heard that his motors would need another tune up soon. She mentally jotted it down.

“Alphys… How long?”

She ignored him, so he asked again.

“How long were you thinking about doing this?”

She shook her head. “It.. it wasn’t p-planned…” He gave her a look. “I swear…”

“Alphys…"

“C-can we just forget about it? It was just….. A…. a mistake….” She said with shame. “It won’t happen again.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Please…” She looked up at him, pleadingly. “Please…..don’t pity me…. Please let me f-forget about it….”

Mettaton looked hurt. “I’m- I’m not here to pity you!” He argued. “I’m here to help you! Alphys, you almost _died_ and you expect me to just ignore that?!”

“Yes.” She responded with frustration, at him, at herself, and at whatever stopped her three days ago.

He watched her for a few moments, obviously hurt. “Well, I’m sorry. But I can’t.”

\---

Wispy, wobbling dog barks excitedly bounced off the walls, and Alphys stepped back to avoid Endogeny’s “happiness froth” as she finished feeding the last of the Amalgamates. They all clamored about aimlessly, which hurt Alphys’s chest a little to watch, but they eventually went about their daily activities. Reaper Bird excitedly said something garbled and unintelligible to Alphys as it left, but didn’t stick around much longer for her to question what it was. Unsure of how to respond to what could’ve been anything from a “thank you” to a threat, she quickly jotted down something on a clipboard and began to head back upstairs. Endogeny bounded after her, towering over her and shaking wildly, but she watched it with sadness. When it barked again, she teared up and hurried out of the lab.

Shutting the door behind her, Alphys breathed out a heavy sigh, and headed over towards her laptop. She had to update her status- Mettaton made her promise to do so whenever he stepped out of the house to ensure him that nothing bad happened. Even though it was almost months ago now since the incident at the beach. But it was either comply with Mettaton’s demands, or deal with his consequences, so she complied to stop his melodramatics.

Besides, it wasn’t too awful- she was used to updating her status almost bi-hourly anyway.

“Oh,” She said to no one in particular as she saw Papyrus had just recently updated his status.

 

 **_CoolSkeleton95:_ ** NOTE TO SELF: NOOGIES ARE NOT SKELETON-FRIENDLY!!!

 

It was a bit confusing, but Papyrus usually was, so she mostly ignored it and updated her own:

 

 **_ALPHYS:_ ** i think the only reason im on this earth is to cause mew mew kissy cutie discourse and im okay with that

 

She wondered vaguely if anyone expected her to follow up on that like she usually did, so then she added:

 

 **_ALPHYS:_ ** @ **MTT** its a mew mew day dont come home if u still stan that s2 girl

 

Satisfied that it would calm him enough, she opened a new tab and aimlessly surfed for a while. Alphys laughed a bit a few minutes later once she had gotten a mention notification.

 

 **_MTT:_ ** @ **ALPHYS** Snail ice cream is gross.  <3

 

\---

That night, she dreamt of the crashing waves at an ominous beach. Of stinging salt water and chilling fear. It was starting to become one of her many reoccurring nightmares, and she awoke with a jump, her heart pounding wildly.

After recollecting herself, she groaned miserably and stuffed her face into the nearby pillow. It had been months, but she still hadn’t gotten any answers. Just how was she still alive today? Someone had to rescue her, right? Why?

Just what had she done to deserve that?

Another sigh, and she turned on her side, listening to the faint ticking of the clock and staring at the shadowy poster of an anime girl across from her hanging on the wall. Clearly, it had been for a reason. Mettaton said he hadn’t, and he wouldn’t lie like that just to make her feel better. Quite the opposite, actually. He was sometimes _too_ honest with her.

She turned to face the ceiling, frowning in confusion. Had it been just…. Fate? Did she have some other purpose to fulfill in the world that she wasn’t allowed to leave yet…?

With an incredulous snort, she let her eyes close again.

_Yeah, right. Fate. C’mon, Alphys, this is the real world._

Still, she had been given a second chance. Maybe this was her chance to prove herself wrong. To do something right for a change.

That second chance….It filled her with just a little bit of….. Some inexplicable, incomprehensible emotion.

 

Hope? Yeah, close enough.


	2. Bridge Seed Puzzle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: i realized a whole bunch of errors after i first posted- sorry about that! I've gone back and fixed the ones i could find! (note to self: don't stay up until 4am writing just to update faster fhsg)

The aquarium was always excessively cold, and Alphys seemed to always forget to bring a sweater, so at times it became truly unbearable, she found herself drinking more tea from the small cafe just to keep warm. Trembling with the contrast of her icy-cold skin and the heat from the cup of tea, she listened to Papyrus go on _yet again_ about the new friend he had made.

“She’s very cool!” He insisted for the…. Alphys wasn’t sure, actually, how many times he had insisted. She had lost count.

“Sometimes she’s very loud, and rough, and sometimes too violent, but it’s nothing the Great Papyrus cannot handle!” He insisted proudly.

It wasn’t that Alphys didn’t care. Honestly. Papyrus was exceptionally sweet and interesting and refreshing to be around in some foreign way Alphys wished she could grasp and mimic, but…

She took a sip of the hot tea, grimacing a bit. It wasn’t sugary, or satisfying in the way soda was, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She nodded at something Papyrus said, and felt a bit guilty because she wasn’t truly listening.

“You two should meet one day!” He said with excitement, as he normally did. “She doesn’t really leave the beach too much- so maybe you could come with me next time!”

Oh. _That’s_ who he was talking about. Alphys sighed, her mind feeling cloudy. Her body feeling cloudy. Overall, she just felt like a droopy, grey raincloud. A raincloud that wished she could be as positive and sunny as Papyrus was, even though he clearly had made up some friend. Oh well, at least he was happy about it.

She took another sip of the warm tea, and decided bitterly she would just bring a sweater next time.

“Yeah, uh, maybe…” She said absentmindedly, perfectly content on never going through with it. She didn’t do well with socializing, or new people. Alphys didn’t want to lie to Papyrus, but she fully intended to stay at home whenever that next time was. Especially if it was at the beach.

She hadn’t gone back since that one night- which was a bit odd for her, because she at least went once every couple of months to get _some_ sunlight. But she couldn’t bring herself to go back. And she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone why. The only other soul who knew about it was Mettaton, and Alphys actively avoided any of his attempts to bring it up.

“What time do you think you will be able to go? Wowie!!” He chirped excitedly. “This is going to be great! I just know you two will-”

Time? Alphys glanced over at the clock with tiny cartoon dolphins swimming happily on it, then groaned miserably (possibly the most emotion she had shown all day), and began packing up her stuff.

“Sorry, Papyrus…” She apologized, not looking up at him as she messily shoved her tools away in her bag, before Papyrus stopped her and packed the rest up neatly for her.

“I-I, uh….. I have an ….. Appointment to get to…”

It wasn’t a lie. She sarcastically congratulated herself on it.

“Oh…” He said with disappointment on his features. Alphys didn’t think she had ever seen that expression before. She wasn’t even aware his skeletal face could do that. It made her feel even worse.

“S-sorry…” She apologized again. Maybe next time she would humor him more on his imaginary friend, Alphys thought, as she hurried towards her therapy appointment.

\---

The more she willed herself to forget about it, the more it pilled up on her. Bad hours became bad days became bad weeks… It was exhausting. There were days she woke up perfectly fine (by her standards at least)...

Then there were days like these.

She didn’t exactly feel comfortable describing it as feeling robotic- because she knew a robot personally who was leagues more expressive and dramatic than she would ever be- but it did feel very automated. Without escaping from her thoughts, Alphys could effortlessly sign herself into her appointment and go through a majority of her session without having to be mentally present. Which is usually what she did.

It wasn’t that Alphys wasn’t grateful for Mettaton actively searching for a way to help her, she thought as she settled into the plush chairs in the office and watched her therapist smile at her warmly in a way she forced herself to uncomfortably return. It wasn’t even that she didn’t see that she needed help.

She fumbled with a pen in her pocket, clicked it a few times to calm her nerves, but the noise only echoed around the room and she immediately stopped with embarrassment and avoided eye contact.

It was that she couldn’t be honest with this therapist.

About halfway through the session, Alphys was lectured yet again that “opening up” would help the sessions actually become productive, and she forced herself to insist that she was.

The therapist frowned.

“I don’t quite think we’ve hit the root of your problem.” She clarified.

The therapist was a nice, calm monster. She was a bunny, and wore a lot of nice, warm clothes and seemed to have a lovely, big family judging by the amount of family photos by her desk. Alphys couldn’t really find herself relating to this monster.

“Oh…?” She responded, pretending it wasn’t entirely true.

“Yes,” The therapist sighed, her ears bouncing a bit as she did so. “Alphys, I want you to feel as though you can trust me with anything. Because you can. This is a safe, judgement-free space.”

Alphys nervously played with some of the keychains on her keys, and nodded.

“So,” The voice from the pleasant monster was very kind and her smile was trustworthy, so the scientist forced herself to look away from it.

“Do you mind revisiting that evening in your mind for me- Is that alright?”

Alphys weakly nodded.

“What exactly do you think upset you?”

Alphys felt herself get smaller. Weaker. Vulnerable.

_Maybe the fact that I’ve destroyed several monsters and turned them into horrific creatures in the name of science? That I've hidden them from their families? From Asgore? From everyone? That I ruined all of their lives permanently with my stupid mistakes? That my selfishness doomed them to a life of misery forever?_

“I t-think that, maybe, uh…” She fished for a good answer amongst all the truthful ones in her mind.

“Maybe, um…..” A shaky breath, the keychains jingled lightly against her nervous motions.

“I think I just... h-had a bad day.” She eventually concluded, and waited for the therapist’s frustration, or maybe anger.

But it didn’t appear, and the bunny smiled at her.

“Okay- has that ever happened to you in the past? Bad days like those?”

Alphys felt her blood run cold. She’d hoped that she could buy more time with her vague answer, but she had only dug herself deeper into the abyss. She offered a small, hopefully discouraging shrug.

“And what do those days usually feel like for you?”

She felt frustrated. She wasn’t even sure anymore, she tended to force herself to forget those days the best she could. With a frown, she eventually answered: “Heavy.”

Heavy like the burdens and guilt laying upon her soul. Heavy like how sometimes she couldn’t get herself out of bed because it all hurt too much. Heavy like the terrifying possibility she could live her entire life this way. Heavy like knowing she wasn’t good enough, but she still was walking around the earth in the way she knew she didn’t deserve. Heavy like the waves that should’ve killed her, had to have, needed to…

“A-and…. very…..” She paused, trying to find a word that was both honest and wouldn’t make the therapist suspicious of her. “Numb.”

That was probably the safest way to put it. On her worst days, she felt heavy and numb now. Sometimes it felt unreal, like she was watching it off a television, and none of this was real. But she didn't mention that. Numb would suffice.

“Is that how you felt that day?”

Alphys squirmed in the soft chair, feeling uncomfortable now. Not at all, quite the opposite, actually. That day, she felt everything all at once. But she didn’t want to talk about it. She was better off ignoring it- that’s when she felt best. The days that she was lucky enough to forget that night for a bit where the ones she felt peaceful. Ignoring her problems.

It was how she had coped for many years prior to this, anyway.

Pushing her glasses up, she watched the wall clock tick a few times.

What good was this doing her? Sitting in a place, still having to hide behind all her mistakes and lies? This wasn’t something she could share, or even something she wanted pity from. It was so much more powerful than that. She couldn’t tell this kind monster- she couldn’t break down and reveal all the horrible experiments she did. All it would do is put herself, Asgore, and the Amalgamates in a troubling situation. It was just something she would need to carry with her, forever.

The very thought made her feel ill.

\---

“How was the session today, darling?”

“.... Um, fine, I guess….”

“Just fine?”

A nod.

Silence.

“... How are you feeling?”

“Mettaton….”

“I'm only asking because I actually care, you know that, right? I wouldn't waste my time otherwise.”

“I….” A breath, patient waiting for the rest of the sentence. “I liked it better, before…”

“Before?”

A pause. “Before….. w-when we didn't…. when you didn't t-talk to me like this…”

“Like this?”

“Like a baby….”

More silence. A motorized sigh.

“I…. I'm trying-”

“I-I know …! I’m sorry, I’m-”

“Let me finish. I'm trying to find the right balance.”

A curious look, then another patch of silence. He continued.

“I…. I don't want to treat you different, but I'm scared to make a mistake.”

“I-it’s not like that. Please…. just d-don't, okay?”

“I want to help.”

“T…. then let me put it behind me….”

“Alphys…”

“Mettaton.”

She stood in front of him, brave.

“Don't pity me anymore, o-okay?”

Silence.

A hesitant nod.

That night, Mettaton begged Alphys not to pick an anime too ridiculous. She sighed, then argued that it was his turn to pick dinner-time entertainment, anyway. He watched her for a few moments, as if observing her, before nodding and nonchalantly mentioning that she was right, as if he had forgotten. She knew that wasn’t the case, but she felt grateful that he was starting to take her words seriously.

He picked a human romance film, by some director he was hoping to work with one day.

The movie was awful, and Mettaton openly complained the entire time. About the plot, about the acting, about the lack of bloodshed and drama. Alphys felt herself wind down from tension she hadn't noticed she had. Testing the waters, she offhandedly commented about one of the actors appearances, and then Mettaton proceeded to viciously torment her about it the rest of the night.

It was the best she had felt in months.

\---

True to her word, the next time Papyrus was talking about his “new friend”, Alphys tried to listen.

Emphasis on tried.

Sometimes it was hard to grasp exactly who or what he was talking about, but Alphys listened the best she could.

“What's your, uh…. friend like…?” She inquired, showing interest, and Papyrus seemed delighted to explain.

“Well,” He began. “She's very... Passionate! Sometimes for really weird things- and she's a bit rough around the edges, but that's okay!" He smiled happily, before getting excited again as he continued, which Alphys couldn't help but become amused by.

"Oh, Oh! And she also has really cool blue scales- certified cool by Papyrus himself!- and messy hair. She always complains about it, but whenever I tell her to shave it off she becomes really defensive. But I don’t get it- it’s just hair!” He protested, exasperated as he bounced to an entirely different topic.

“Look at me- I’ve lived my whole life without it, and I, Papyrus, turned out fine! Excellent, even!!”

Alphys shrugged a bit, agreeing. She didn’t really get it either, but she understood wherever this ‘friend’ was coming from. Mettaton could spend hours just on his hair alone, and he didn’t even have much of it.

“Maybe…. I-I don’t know… it helps her ….keep warm?” She tried.

“Oh, no,” He insisted. “She _hates_ the heat!”

Alphys blinked at him, confused. “Wait, d-didn’t… didn’t you say she lives near the beach…?” She hesitated, not wanting to hurt his feelings if she hadn’t listened correctly.

“Yes!”

“But….. the beach is warm, usually…”

“Yes!”

She paused, and when she spoke again, it was a bit slower, as she was trying to show Papyrus the error in his story.

“But… if she hates the warmth… a-and then, lives on the beach…”

“Oh, she doesn’t live _on_ the beach! She only goes there at night, when the sun isn’t out.”

“But, you said-”

“She lives _by_ the beach! I’ve never visited her home, because I can’t swim very far-” Alphys gave him an exasperated sigh. “-but she told me it’s below the surface enough to not feel the heat of the sun!”

“Papyrus…” She began, almost hopelessly. She didn’t want to ruin his fun, truly she didn’t, but she didn’t like that whoever this was continued to lie to Papyrus and take advantage of his trusting nature.

“Have…. Have you told Sans about this….. Um… friend?” She asked instead. Surely his brother wouldn’t let someone hurt Papyrus like this.

“what about it?”

Alphys jumped a bit at the sudden new voice, and turned to look over the counter where it had come from. Sans grinned back at them.

“heya.”

“Sans!” Papyrus scolded, though he hadn’t really done anything besides walk up to them. “What are you doing here? You told me you had a job to do today!”

“i do. i’m at work right now.” He said matter-of-factly, but Papyrus sighed loudly and heavily, and shook his head.

“No, no, no,” He spoke as if explaining to a little kid that they had made a mistake. “This is _my_ job, Sans.”

“i’m working here today.”

Alphys looked at him curiously, and hesitated to ask. “D-doing what…?”

“selling hot dogs.” He answered casually. There wasn’t a stand in sight. “wanna buy one?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but then he interrupted again.

“oh man, sorry, we’re all out.” He shook his head in disappointment, showing the empty left pocket of his hoodie. Then he reached for his right pocket.

“you up for a hot cat instead?”

Alphys shook her head, not wanting to even bother to ask at that point.

“eh, suit yourself.”

“Sans!” Papyrus shouted, annoyed. “Stop plaguing this museum with your tomfoolery!”

“oh, come on, paps,” He grinned. “i don’t even know a tom.”

Papyrus made a noise that was a mix between an annoyed scoff and an insulted shout.

“A-anyways!” Alphys cut in before the argument could escalate any further. “Sans, uh… about this… friend-”

“oh. yeah, what about her?”

“Don’t you find it a bit.... Strange…?” She asked in almost a whisper.

Sans shrugged. “i’ve heard weirder.”

“Almost, implausible, even…?”

“nothing’s really implausible when you think about it, doc.” He lazily defended, leaning against the counter. “or….. im _paw_ sible?”

Silence. Alphys and Papyrus blinked at Sans, and he frowned a bit at their confusion.

“because…. the hot cat?”

Now they just gave him disappointed looks. He sighed, chuckling a bit.

“‘can’t win ‘em all, i guess.”

“Sans, why can’t you be serious for once?!” Papyrus expressed with irritation. “Dr Alphys doesn’t believe me!”

“B-because it can’t- it’s just n-not true…!” She frantically defended. “I don’t w-want to be mean, or a-anything, but….” She took a breath, a moment to calm her stuttering, then continued.

“I just.... I think someone is… tricking you.” She frowned. She didn’t want to hurt him, but Papyrus deserved to know. Whoever this monster or human was, they were definitely lying to Papyrus to gain his friendship. Why, though? She had no idea. Papyrus could be friends with anybody, and wanted to be friends with everyone. He was even friends with _her_ , which was saying something.

Either way, she had to put a stop to this. He deserved to know.

“what makes you think that, doc?” Sans asked, not seeming bothered by this idea, which worried Alphys. He normally was extremely protective of Papyrus, so it made no sense.

“W-well,” She started, nervous that she was being forced to speak her mind against two monsters who seemed to disagree.

“It just- it makes no sense, s-scientifically, I mean…! The only living things in the ocean are fish… well, I mean, that’s broad, but you understand. If someone like that lived under there, wouldn’t someone- like someone from an aquarium, for example- have, you know… found them by now? They go out into the field to find stuff all the time... Nothing with a _soul_ lives down there- a-and I would know! I mean, I’m not saying I know everything, b-but… but I know a lot about monster souls and- and Asgore has all the monsters in existence registered, you see. Every time a monster is born, t-they have to record it all, for population information, right? So, because I’ve studied souls, I’ve worked with many different types of monster genealogy and studied many family trees and I’ve gone through those records many times for research purposes and- and...”

She stopped in her frantic, fast-paced explanation to watch the two skeletons staring back, and became nervous again.

“And… t-there’s no monster, like the one you’re talking about…” She trailed off, quietly.  “I-it… wouldn’t make sense, genetically… o-or physically…”

“what about magically?”

“That either. There are no monsters who can simply just… survive underwater. Magically o-or otherwise… We have lungs, s-so we take our air supply from plants-”

“She has gills, too!” Papyrus said cheerfully, as if he had been able to solve the dispute so simply. “I’ve seen them! They’re… kind of weird.” He finished, honestly, and grimaced somewhat.

Alphys gave Sans a hopeless look. Surely he was just humoring Papyrus, right…?

“Papyrus…” Alphys sighed. “I’m not doubting their existence, I just… I-I think someone is lying to you..”

“But I’ve seen them!” He insisted, sounding a bit disheartened. “I’ve seen the gills!”

“B-but- there’s not even a record of a monster going missing..!” She insisted back, almost desperately. “They had to come from _somewhere_ … It’s just....” She felt her heart squeeze a bit at the sadness radiating from Papyrus.

“Souls don’t come from nowhere…”

Papyrus paused, then frowned.

“But… Dr Alphys… What about Mettaton?”

Alphys felt her entire nervous system jump in fear, she felt her heartbeat pick up violently, she felt cold, unforgiving terror run up her spine and seep into her bones. She had walked herself right into her own demise.

“W-w-what about h-him?” She practically squeaked. Oh, no. Oh, _no, this was bad._ Her hands clenched into trembling fists before she could stop herself.

“Well, he’s a robot. And he was created!"

“R-right.” She answered far too quickly.

“Then, that means his soul came from somewhere!”

Alphys wanted to answer, she really did. She wanted to jump in and tell her usual lie and move on from this topic. But her voice got caught in her throat, so she couldn’t, and Papyrus kept going.

“You were able to create him! So that means souls _can_ come out of nowhere!” He said with triumph.

Alphys felt relief flood through her entire body, and pour into her soul, but she was still trembling with adrenaline of fear.

“T-that’s different!” She insisted. “That’s… t-t-that’s science! And magic! And-”

“what is science, really?” Sans asked casually, despite the heavy implications of the question. “just a bunch of… everything, really.”

“It’s… um, o-observations using previous proven theories and otherwise undeniable theories to, well...study the known and unknown…” She concluded, taking a breath to calm herself from the previous scare and speak clearly.

“well, everything that’s been in researched came from discovery, no?”

“W-well, I mean-”

“then, isn’t something like this just science waiting to happen?”

Alphys took a shaky sigh, suddenly emotionally exhausted.

“come on, doc. you can’t pretend you’re not at least _a little_ bit interested…?”

“It just… sounds a little ridiculous to me…” She gave Papyrus a guilty look. “S-sorry…”

“Pardon me?” Another voice called out, approaching them and interrupting the conversation.

Toriel, apparently there on another class field trip (she had started teaching shortly after she had unofficially stepped down as queen. If anyone had asked, she would smile and simply say she had always wanted to be a teacher. She never quite addressed why she had stepped down, though...), approached the trio with a smile and something in her arms.

“Hello, Alphys, correct? Hello Sans, hello Papyrus!” She added, and the two brothers waved and greeted her politely.

Alphys dumbly nodded, suddenly finding herself too flustered too look her in the eyes. How had she known about her? Did …. Did _Asgore_ tell her about Alphys?

The thought made her heart speed up in a guilt-ridden way, but she couldn’t help it. She’d tried many times to rid herself of this cursed crush, but it seemed to always appear back to haunt her. It made her feel gross- really, really gross. Mettaton always teased her for it, and it never really helped. Why was she doomed to have such an inopportune taste?

Still, Asgore must’ve talked about her, right? What did that mean…?

“Frisk has told me so much about you!” She continued, cheerfully and sweet.

Alphys felt all her excitement crash down around her.

Of course- why hadn’t she thought about that? Frisk was close with Sans and Papyrus since they were neighbors, which meant they had eventually become acquaintances with Alphys and Mettaton (but she had the sneaking suspicion they liked Mettaton much better, and only tolerated Alphys. Alphys couldn’t really blame them- she was awful around anyone unfamiliar and Mettaton was surprisingly good around kids even though he often vocalized his disdain for them. Frisk was an exception, obviously.).

“Oh,” Alphys spoke before she could stop herself.

Still, Frisk talked about her. To _Toriel._ Her excitement slowly returned. Toriel no longer liked for others to associate her with the title “The Queen”, though she never really explained why, but Alphys couldn’t help it. The (former?) _Queen_ knew who she was, personally (sort of)… She allowed herself to feel just a little special for a few moments.

“They mentioned that you seemed a bit sad lately, and you know them, they get worried so easily.” She spoke with a bright smile, shaking her head. She seemed to radiate with love and motherly nature and elegance and everything else Alphys was unfamiliar with. She suddenly felt overwhelmed in a not-entirely-horrible way. She had never actually been this close to her before…

“So they suggested we make something special- just for you!” Toriel concluded, handing the package to Alphys, who almost dropped it in her haste. It was a plastic tupperware, and paper taped to the top of it with a small doodle of Mettaton and Alphys, most likely drawn by Frisk.

“O-oh, my…” She gaped at the tupperware, speechless. There were cookies inside. They looked homemade, and she was so touched by the gesture she had to ground herself to keep from crying just a bit.

“Th-this is so sweet…! Thank you so much…!” She said, choked up and incredibly flustered. She didn’t deserve these. She didn’t deserve someone as sweet as Frisk to care about her. They hardly knew each other, and yet they had gone out of their way for this. She didn’t deserve a lot of things…

Toriel giggled, and waved her off. Alphys heart jumped oddly. “Nonsense! They were very determined to come and bring them to you themself, but there was no time in between the field trip- actually! I apologize!” She suddenly said, turning to address Papyrus and Sans as well now with a sorry smile.

“I actually have to leave, or the bus will leave without me!” She laughed a bit again, before waving as she hurried off.

Alphys stared blankly at the doodle on the paper atop the tupperware, her heart racing. Thumping. Panicking.

“oh, you’re so lucky, tori always has the best cooking.” Sans commented as he walked over, looking over Alphys’s shoulder at the tupperware.

“Sans, you’ve only eaten her food once!” Papyrus said from the other side of Alphys. Then paused to think about it. “But I suppose you’re right! The food was delicious!!”

“hmm...nah, i take it back”

“Sans! That’s rude!!”

Alphys really did have a problem…

“nah. she’s my second favorite cook. paps, you’re my first.”

She kept getting crushes on unattainable monsters.

\---

“Yes, yes, I will discuss it with her and decide where to go from here.” Mettaton sighed, frustrated, as he spoke into the phone. Anger quickly festered inside his soul.

“Yes, thank you so much, dear. I apologize for this. Goodbye.”

Hanging up, he made an upset groan and flopped onto the living room sofa dramatically. Angrily. He glared up at the ceiling, waiting. Seething. His rage was growing grander with every moment, every minute....

\---

By the time Alphys made it home, it was dark (he expected her late on mondays and thursdays, when she had her therapy appointments), and Mettaton was seconds away from blowing a fuse.

“MTT?” She called out as she entered the house, holding the tupperware and the spare part from the aquarium machine she had fixed up.

“Alphys.” He managed to speak without immediately shouting. But the fury translated fairly well in the paper-thin reply.

“Um…” Noticing this, Alphys wondered if today had gone poorly for him. Good thing she had Frisk and Toriel’s cookies to help.

She smiled a bit just at the thought.

“H...How was your day…?”

“I could ask you the same, darling.”

He didn’t turn to face her, and she watched the back of his head, an uneasiness sweeping into her veins and chilling her body. She paused, before responding.

“It…. was okay, I guess…”

“Interesting.”

Uncharacteristic silence filled their home.

“...Um, I-I have cookies! Apparently, Frisk and … Toriel made them for us…!” Just saying it almost made her heart sing, but she forced her brain not to get too ahead of herself.

Mettaton laughed, robotically. Fake, and virtual, and not at all friendly.

“Is….. Is something wrong…?” She tested, cautious as she stepped a bit closer.

“Do you really think I don’t know?” He answered sharply, now turning to face her. The statement stabbed at her. She stared at him, confused and now a bit scared, and he stared back with incalculable anger. The question was so broad, so threatening against her. It could mean _anything._

Her heart sped up, and her grip on the tupperware tightened and trembled.

“Know…?” She squeaked. What did he mean? What did he find out that she had hidden from him? Was it the blueprints for his upgrades? Was it the fact that she was stalling giving him said updates because she was sure he would ditch her as soon as his body was perfected? Was it something about the DT experiments she had deliberately hidden from him? Was it the lie she told Asgore about him…? Was it…

Was it about Toriel? She panicked. It was just an innocent attraction- Where was the harm?! How did he find out? How many others knew? Just how quickly did information pass around?

“I’m- I’m s-sorry!!” She apologized suddenly, hiding her face behind the tupperware. “I c-couldn’t help it! She’s just so nice a-and sweet and- and I meant n-nothing by it! I would never! I s-swear!”

Mettaton blinked, becoming even more annoyed at this confusing turn.

“What? What the hell are you talking about, Alphys?” He snapped at her, scowling.

“T… Toriel…?” She asked quietly after a moment, peeking out from behind the tupperware. “Is… w....What are _you_ talking about…?”

“Tor-... The queen?” He felt exasperated, and he slammed a fist against the sofa in anger and stood up, walking over to her. “What does she have to do with _anything?”_

“I-I-I don’t know! You tell me!” She squawked back, hiding her face again. He crossed his arms.

“You brought her up.”

Alphys, after a moment, lowered the plastic shield and looked down at the floor, her face flushing in embarrassment. After a few seconds, Mettaton made an electronic beep of pure frustration and practically growled.

“ _Alphys_ , are you _kidding_ me?!” He almost shrieked, and Alphys jumped. “Can’t you think of _anything else_ besides _that_ for _once_ in your life?!”

“M-me?!” She nervously defended, shame burning at her face. If this wasn’t why he was upset, then…?

“Yes, you!” He shouted back, stomping a heel against the tiled floor. It didn’t express his anger enough, so he instead stomped over to the sofa again and grabbed the cushions, and angrily tossed them onto the floor with another growl. Alphys watched him throw his tantrum with clueless, wide eyes. Annoyed, he hurried back over and grabbed the tupperware from her loose grip and flung it away from them. It bounced against a wall and crashed to the floor.

A few moments of quiet passed between them, staring each other down, only interrupted by the faint beeps and whirring of Mettaton’s motors being overworked.

“...”

“...F-frisk made those for us-”

“Alphys, I got a call from the therapist office.”

She gulped. Oh. Oh, no.

“Why are you skipping the appointments?”

Her stomach twisted and tumbled in an ugly way.

“I expect an answer.”

She fumbled with the spare machine part in her hands, avoiding eye contact with him.

“Where have you been going?” He asked, patience gone. He awaited an answer, but Alphys had a feeling he wouldn’t wait long. She sighed, knowing she couldn’t lie this time.

“... I… I don’t want to go anymore, Mettaton. I- I can’t- It’s no good for me to go, don’t you realize…?”

“No good?” He repeated, but in a way that made Alphys feel foolish.

“I can’t…. I can’t ever p-progress…” She confessed, meeting her friend’s eyes. “I can’t get to the “root” of my “problems”, because…. W-well…”

“...” Mettaton frowned, breaking their eye contact first. 

“S-so… What’s the point…?”

“Alphys-”

“I can’t e-ever talk about my mistakes, not to anyone… I just…. H-have to live with them.” She shuddered.

“There’s a solution.” He protested. “You can tell Asgore. You can tell their families…”

“N-no!” She panicked just at the thought. “No, I can’t! I can _never_ tell them!”

She hadn’t even realized she had been crying until Mettaton handed her a tissue from a box nearby.

Mettaton was slowly realizing he couldn’t treat Alphys’s depression the same way he had treated Napstablook’s growing up. Napstablook needed encouragement, someone to help them cheer up. They were receptive to that, but Alphys wasn’t. She truly believed she didn’t deserve it. Alphys wanted someone to act clueless of her faults. She wanted to carry the heavy weight of her mistakes all alone. She didn’t want help.

And that made it all the more dangerous in Mettaton’s eyes.

“You can’t just… _live_ like this.” He protested as she wiped her tears and took a few breaths to calm herself. He frowned, speaking calmly now.  “Look at what it’s doing to you, darling.”

“I can, a-and I have…”

“Barely.”

They both stared at each other, grimly.

“Mettaton…”

“You’re just barely living like this.” He stated, his voice wavering with just a bit of static.

She shuffled over towards the tupperware on the floor and picked it up.

“I’m not going to waste my time there, anymore…” She handed it to him. “P-please… respect that.”

Mettaton watched her with sadness, with some gentle emotion she hadn’t seen on him since that night, with some expression that made her livid. He opened his mouth to speak again, but their doorbell suddenly rang. Frantically.

They both turned towards the door with surprise, then at each other.

“D-did… did you invite someone…?” Alphys asked with sudden anxiety at the prospect that Mettaton may have taken drastic measures, but he shook his head.

“No, did you?”

Alphys gave him a look, like the question was stupid. It was.

“Right.” He coughed, awkwardly. It rung again frantically, and then followed with a few loud knocks.

“W… What if it’s for you?” Alphys whispered to Mettaton, as if worried the person on the other side of the door would hear. “What if it's…. A fan…?”

Mettaton gave a small gasp. He loved his fans, no doubt, but he also enjoyed the privacy of his home. Besides, the fans that may have stalked him weren’t exactly the ones he enjoyed. And this one seemed to have zero patience.

“Oh, my,” He whispered as well, the prospect worrying him, then gently shoved Alphys in the direction of the door (“H-hey!”), then waved her away.

“Check for me.”

She huffed a bit, annoyed at how easily he had gone from scolding her to using her, but the door was knocked upon violently again, and she yelped.

“...Dr Alphys…!!”

She paused, her eyes widening a bit. That sounded like….

She walked towards the door and opened it to two distressed skeletons.

“Papyrus?”

“Dr Alphys!” He gasped, frantic and terrified. Alphys’s eyes widened at the sight of someone leaning against him, with a rusty, metal spear deeply stuck into her side. Her breathing was rugged, and she seemed unable to speak, much less hold up her own weight. She coughed weakly, as if her lungs would falter at any minute, and trembled.

“Please- please help us!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Disclaimer: in case it wasn't obvious Alphys isn't the best example- please always be honest with your therapists they are there to help!)  
> The next update might take a bit longer since I'm going out of town, but Undyne's guaranteed to be in it or we'll double your money back! :0


	3. The Heroine Appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my goodness, hello! I need to apologize for how long this took! I just couldn't bring myself to get back into the groove of writing - I wanted this chapter to have very specific things in it for plot purposes, and actually getting up to write it became physically taxing. But I truly didn't want to give up on my first fic so easily (plus its like my little baby, I'm excited for whats planned!)- so to make up for it I made this chapter MUCH longer than originally planned and gave undyne much more than planned! I hope everyone enjoys it!

 

Alphys gaped openly at the two skeletons and the severely wounded monster for a moment, shocked into speechlessness, before gasping and hurrying them inside.

“What on earth?” Mettaton practically shouted, coming out from his hiding place behind the bookcase. “ _Who_ is that?”

Papyrus guided the monster to the nearby sofa, but it looked more like he was dragging her along. Once she collapsed on the sofa, she gasped with pain, but gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, seeming to not want to show vulnerability.

Alphys watched with confused fear, and Mettaton hesitated to step forward and help- though it seemed the monster was weakly refusing as much assistance as she could in her state. Sans moved to help rest her head on a pillow, which was the first time Alphys and Mettaton saw him do _anything_ with haste.

“This…. this is my friend, Undyne,” Papyrus said grimly after he managed to get her to lay across the couch. Alphys and Mettaton gave him scared, concerned looks, so he elaborated.

“Dr Alphys, this is my friend I told you about…”

She blinked, slowly shifting the metaphorical puzzle pieces together.

_“She has really cool blue scales…”_

Alphys’s eyes trailed the unfamiliar, trembling figure sprawled out on her couch. Her skin was definitely blue, and…..

She squinted, stepped closer to the unfamiliar monster.

Scales stared back at her. Small, fine, and intricate scales, vibrant blue in some places and pale blue in others. Reflective, like the ones on the fish in the aquarium. Like the fish in the ocean. She seemed to be hastily wrapped up in some fabric that was tied in messy, big, loose knots to (Alphys assuming) conserve decency, but it seemed more difficult around the ugly spear in her side. The monster shuddered out a breath, her form trembling. Alphys felt confused, terrified, and exasperated all at once, and she couldn’t fully pinpoint why.

“What’s going on, she’s clearly hurt!” Mettaton said with frantic concern, stepping closer as well. Undyne grit her teeth, and Alphys noted that she looked like she was teetering the thin line of consciousness and unconsciousness.

“She’s- she had a run in with some bad people,” Papyrus said with sorrow, which was a first to hear for Alphys and Mettaton. His voice was low, and wavering, and he looked to his friend with sadness and fear. “She’s hurting real bad, Dr Alphys…”

“She’s real.” Alphys said instead, dumbly.

“i told ya. paps wouldn’t lie like that.” Sans spoke up, but even he looked worried.

“She’s- she’s _real._ ” She repeated, stepping closer and kneeling down to the carpet by the sofa, examining Undyne up close. The rusty spear jutted angrily out of her side, and the scales around the wound seemed dead, and some of them looked like they had fallen off, as there were a few patches of pale blue flesh.

“What are you talking about?!” Mettaton huffed, wondering how Alphys could be so calm when there was a stranger that seemed to be dying on their couch.

“MTT, come look at this.” She said in awe, and Mettaton gave her an exasperated huff, before kneeling down next to her.

“Look,” She delicately brushed her fingers against the scales, and Undyne hissed weakly. “Scales, like a fish. And look,” She pushed some of the cloth doing a poor job of covering up Undyne up by her sides, and gasped softly when she was met with a set of gills.

“uh, doc?”

“How fascinating…!” She whispered, clearly preoccupied with examining the new discovery.

“Dr Alphys!”

Alphys jumped at Papyrus’s sudden, frantic shout. “Yes, I know she is very cool, but she needs your help! _Please_!!” He said the last part with a genuine plea, and Alphys scrambled to her feet.

“R-right! Oh my god, I-I’m so sorry! I just, uh-” She cringed at herself, shame crawling up and filling her. This was not an appropriate time to conduct research, not with some stranger practically bleeding out on their couch (though, she had to note, the wound wasn’t simple spilling out blood. She wasn’t sure if that was good or not- it could mean that spear was the only thing holding this monster up for this long).

“Just- s-sorry. Right.” She turned to Undyne, who was breathing with a faint, ghostly rattle nudged between the breaths. Alphys felt her heart sink.

She was aware what that meant.

“Papyrus....” She started, not really sure what she was supposed to do about this monster. She watched her with sadness, and could pick out some other gashes and scars littering the body. Clearly, she had been roughed up before they had arrived.

“Please, Dr Alphys, can you help Undyne?”

“Papyrus,” She took in a shuddering breath, realizing now why she was brought to her. “I’m… I’m not that k-kind of doctor…”

Sans frowned, and spoke up again. “we know, but… you’re the only one we can go to right now. with this. is there anything you can do to help her? anything at all?”

Alphys stared at Undyne for a few moments, at her form now falling back into brief consciousness and gasping on their sofa, trembling with the silent, painful tears that escaped before she could help it. At the heavy spear in her side, at all the cuts and scrapes and gashes on the unfamiliar skin. At the salt clinging to her body, to her damp hair, to her chest that heaved and pushed and gasped for air that the monster was slowly losing.

At the monster that was slowly falling down…

“We…” Alphys bit her lip. There wasn’t much to do about this. “We… We can c-check her vitals… m-maybe then we can know a little better what... um, t-type of care she’ll need…”

Mettaton gave Alphys a grim look, but Sans and Papyrus nodded.

“Mettaton, c-can you help me move her to the lab table?”

He stared at her for a moment, sadly, before nodding and going over towards Undyne.

He leaned over, carefully wrapping his arms around her in an attempt to help her up, but she weakly pushed him away, coughing and gasping. Mettaton stepped away when he heard her growl at him.

“I’m trying to help you,” He sighed.

“Sorry, she gets like that,” Papyrus frowned. “She doesn’t like getting help from others. She doesn’t like feeling helpless.”

“Well, she’s going to need to cooperate, if she wants to survive past the next ten minutes.” He said flatly, not wanting to get anymore attitude from this stranger. Did she even know who he was? Did she not want to get help?

He regretted it after a moment, because he glanced at Papyrus, who was now watching Undyne with a gloomy expression, and now Sans was glaring viciously at him for having put it that way. He frowned.

“Hey,” He turned to Undyne again, who looked like she was having trouble focusing on any of the figures in front of her. He watched her eye look at him with a glazed over expression, and it was then he realized she only had one. The other socket was hollow, black and circled with a few dead, pale blue scales around it. It definitely was filled at one point...

He tried not to look at it too much.

“Hey, you have to let us help you, okay?” He continued, still in an unimpressed, uneasy way.  “Alphys is a good monster, so don’t give her trouble, and we won’t have any problems, darling.”

Undyne said nothing, still watched him like he was something for her to attack. But Alphys wheeled a stretcher into the room, and she didn’t protest too much when him and Papyrus helped her onto it. At least, not until the very end, when she was forced to lay on her back, and she yowled out in pain and scratched at both Papyrus and Mettaton until they let go of her.

Alphys, a bit terrified now after the display of aggression, hesitantly stepped forward with the heart monitor.

“U-um,” She spoke up, and Undyne’s one eye watched her carefully, and not-at-all-friendly. Alphys stared back into the empty socket with wide eyes. She hadn’t noticed it until now, either, and she had to wonder how she hadn’t. There was a story there, and she suddenly found herself curious of it.

“I’m… g-going to hook you up to this, i-it’ll tell us your heartbeat, a-amongst other things…” She explained, though she wasn’t sure why. Undyne was losing focus again- she could tell. She glanced at the spear again, and bit her lip. She wasn’t really sure what she was going to do about that. Removing it could kill her, but at this rate she wasn’t quite sure not removing it would do any better.

With trembling hands, she hesitantly reached for Undyne’s hand, feeling the scales caked with sea salt, and slipped the rubber heart monitor clip onto the end of one of her fingers…

 

\---

Undyne prided herself on being focused on her craft, in her daily life. It was needed to survive- letting your guard down could mean the difference between survival and death.

But it wasn’t an unpleasant way to live, because it was the only way she knew how to live.

Because of this, being unable to focus made it unbearable. Made her adrenaline spike.

Her mind was foggy, clogged up, dark and blurry, like the shattered reflection of light against the water’s surface. She tried very hard, very hard to recall what was happening, and she believed at one point, maybe, she could remember. But now, nothing was making much sense. Lights fizzled in and out of her vision, and sometimes Papyrus appeared between them. He would stare at her, with fear, with pity.

She hated it.

She wanted to ask him why, to tell him to stop, but she felt too fragile to do so. It was such an unfamiliar feeling. She felt like a helpless baby sea turtle, floating along in the middle of a giant ocean, clueless, defenseless…

But yearning to survive.

She had to survive.

She grit her teeth, gasping for breath as she felt her senses suddenly come back to her, crashing against her like rough waves, and pain burned through her body. She tried to sit up, and found herself in some unfamiliar machine. Without warning, pain ripped through her left side, and she couldn’t stop the way she cried out, and she was forced to her back against some buzzing, moving object.

Colors melted against her eye. She blinked, gasping for air against the pain that surrounded her. She heard Papyrus say something, but she couldn’t see him, so she panicked. She tried to get up, tried to survive, but she was strapped into something, and she screamed out again as she felt more unbearable pain in her side when she moved. Flopping back down onto the plush of whatever she had been laying in, she blearily looked down at her side.

A spear stared back at her.

Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, her eye widening at the rusty opponent before her.

She wondered briefly, if this realization that it was the end of the line was something others went through. Her soul felt tiny, cold, and vulnerable. Her breathing sped up, faster, faster, and she watched her trembling hand reach towards the spear, before her vision clouded with tears that stung against her eye. Her head ached again, and her vision faded in and out, and she blinked numbly at the lights that flashed against the ceiling of wherever she was.

She felt scared.

More than scared. Terrified. Some primal fear that stung and chilled from deep within her, and it became hard to breathe again. Every breath was a stab to her body, but she couldn’t stop herself. The machine she was in suddenly jumped, and rattled, and Undyne cried out in atrocious, indescribable pain, before she found her senses slipping from her once more.

Her heart rattled against her ribcage with fear. She began to assess the possibility that she was dying.

She was dying, confused and in pain and helpless. Defeated.

Silently, as silently as she could, she felt herself begin to tear up. To show weakness.

She remembered vaguely that Papyrus and his brother spoke to her again, but she couldn’t find any of the words making any sense to her, so she just tried to focus on breathing through the pain, on surviving. To focus on her surroundings. They were unfamiliar, and quickly changing. She recalled taking a few steps on wobbly legs, before her vision hazed over and she felt the weight of the world drag her down again.

Once she settled, she was laying down again. She hated it. Everyone was talking, but it all jumbled together and was nauseating to hear. She felt really warm, and uncomfortable. Something was tied around her, and she tried to tell her arms to take it off of her, but she couldn’t find the strength to do so- something she had never experienced in her life.

It was unsettling.

She heard herself whine a little with discomfort, but she didn’t think anyone was listening, which was frustrating. She never wore clothes. They slowed her down, kept her much too warm, and it was much more of a surface thing to wear. She hadn’t even known they truly existed past beachwear until she met Papyrus.

So, why was she wearing something?

She tried to speak, to tell Papyrus to take whatever it was off of her, but her mouth felt like it was stuffed with sand, and she couldn’t remember how to speak anyway.

She flinched when someone touched her, springing her back to a fragile consciousness she hadn’t noticed she had lost again. It was a gentle touch, but gentle enough that it made her skin crawl in a way that made her want to grind her teeth together with distaste. Someone was talking to her again, she thought, but the voice was unfamiliar and meek and Undyne didn’t even remember how she had gotten here in the first place. The heavy cloth tied around her was pushed away a little, and Undyne felt that maybe this someone had taken mercy on her, but then it fell back into place and the voices moved away from her.

She couldn’t help it any longer- she started to cry.

The world slipped away from her again, and she felt like she was bobbing between consciousness like a boat bobbing against the waves. Each time she came back, she was hit with a dizzying wave of nausea and biting, raw pain. Someone tried to move her, and she found the strength to push at them and growl. She couldn’t really see the face, but it was someone with much too much heat radiating from them and obnoxious beeping against her ears. He spoke at her again, but it still made little sense.

They eventually moved her, or at least that’s what she assumed with the way the room was spinning and the way her body shifted with intense pain. After a moment, it became agonizing, and she found the primal energy to instinctively attack the source of it.

Whatever she was laying on felt much less stable now, and she was sure it would be the end of it, but then someone else spoke to her. A voice that wasn’t automatically irritating, so Undyne blinked and squinted and watched the blob in front of her take a lazy shape and speak to her. The shape took her hand and placed something on the end of her fingertips. It felt weird, but not painful, so Undyne said nothing to complain. She used the somewhat calmer moment to assess her environment. To recall her memories.

It didn’t work.

The shape started speaking again, in some jumbled numbers and weird terms that Undyne ignored because it was taking too much energy to try to understand. She instead watched the figure before her, tried to focus on it. It began to take a more recognizable shape, but with it came the pain. She winced, and she felt her jaw clench, her muscles stiffen and the pure burning against her side return.

The figure before her stepped closer, and Undyne squeezed her eyes shut, much to her frustration. Something was wrapped around her arm, but she felt too weak to protest- even when it began to constrict painfully around her arm.

She forced her eye open again, and it landed on the monster tending to her, wearing a sad expression. She mumbled something to her, and she watched her mouth move in a desperate attempt to understand. She didn’t, but looking at the monster for a while longer, she seemed familiar…

She took in a deep breath, feeling the spear lodged inside her press sharply against her pierced organs in searing pain, and tried to think. She watched the monster, desperate to remember the face. Was it someone good, or bad? Did she need to fight back?

The monster mumbled to themselves again, and Undyne watched blankly, slowly tumbling down, losing grip. She felt like she was sinking to the bottom, but the bottom wasn’t visible, and it was a long way down.

She felt her body relax again, and she let out a shuddered breath. Undyne could feel her soul being dragged down, weakly tremble and pulse, and she wasn’t sure what it meant, but she was starting to get a pretty good idea.

She coughed again, violently, before gasping out in pain at the way it shook her body. The monster tried to help her, but failed. There wasn’t much she could do.

Undyne could feel herself falling down. She could feel the way her body was slowly giving out on itself, and the rasp in her voice when she took heavy breaths. The monster said something, and there was a few shouts, and Undyne’s eye widened a bit with realization as she took one last good look at the monster helping her, before the black boarder around her vision slowly consumed the rest of her sight, and the pain disappeared again.

\---

Alphys watched the stranger tremble and twitch and cough on the lab table, before she fell unconscious again. She fell silent.

There wasn’t anything else she could do, and she wasn’t sure how to tell Papyrus.

Under the guise of jotting down vitals, she snuck a glance at Papyrus, at Sans, at Mettaton, who stared back with a heavy expression. She quickly looked down again.

Her voice felt tight.

“U-um,” She began, unsure of how to phrase this. “I… I took her vitals…”

Papyrus looked at her with a hopeful expression. It hurt her directly down to her soul.

“I-it…. D-doesn’t look too good…” She spoke softly, frowning. “I’m s-sorry, I’m so s-sorry….”

“What does that mean, Dr Alphys?” He asked, his expression dropping, like he was denying it. She looked down at the floor instead- She wouldn’t be able to do this looking at him.

“This, uh, th-this is a SOUL Monitor….” She spoke up after a moment, taking the trio in the room towards the monitor that was currently hooked up to Undyne. It was beeping, calmly, and had a screen with flashing numbers and icons.

“You s-see, her soul is …. V-very damaged….” She pointed to the white icon on the screen. It pulsed and trembled weakly. On the side of the icon, low numbers blinked back at them. A pulse jumped lazily on the top right of the screen, each space between the next beep lasting just a bit too long to make it settling.

Papyrus frowned at screen.

“Papyrus,” Alphys started, speaking slowly and softly, like an adult afraid to upset a child. It didn’t make him feel any better, but he didn’t tell her that.

“S-she was in… p-pretty bad shape when you brought her here, you s-see.”

When no one responded, just watched the screen of the SOUL Monitor, she continued to explain, her voice wavering with sorrow.

“I-I mean… t-the stab alone is going through vital organs, a-and she looks pretty beaten up… I-if the spear wouldn’t h-hurt her enough-”

“She’s very strong.” Papyrus argued, stubbornly, angry in a calm manner Mettaton was somewhat amazed by.

Alphys frowned. “S-since she doesn’t seem to be bleeding out, um… I… I would say, b-by the state of the spear, she’s....” She felt her heartbeat ring in her ears, and the numbness overcome her being. Part of her felt disgusted- had she really become so desensitized by monsters falling down around her?

“She’s probably… g-going to have organ failure, d-due to infection… a-as well as severe soul damage...”

Papyrus said nothing. He didn’t look at any of them, and Alphys was about to repeat herself incase he hadn’t heard her, but then he sniffled.

Alphys’s chest tightened. Oh, no. No, no, no...

“That can’t happen!” Papyrus argued, and now he was crying, and Alphys and Mettaton gave each other a helpless look as Sans hurried over to him.

“That can’t happen!” He repeated, not accepting Sans’s comfort.

“I’m truly sorry, darling…” Mettaton offered a grim expression.

“Dr Alphys, please,” Papyrus continued, ignoring them. “Isn't there anything you can do?”

She shook her head. “I… I can’t surgically remove it…. a-and even if I did… t-there's no guarantee it would help at all. There's…. there's damage to her soul, s-see?” Alphys motioned to the confusing-to-everyone-but-her monitor.

“S-so….. so, even so… her soul is weakened too much…. ….monster souls are very weak, you see, a-and we deal damage d-directly to it, and… well….”

She trailed off, looking at the practically lifeless monster laying on her lab table, and felt sick to her stomach. She looked sturdy, strong. Definitely fascinating. She felt guilty for not having believed Papyrus sooner- but could anyone blame her?

“S…. she's going to fall….” She eventually said, her chest constricting harshly at the way Papyrus watched her with broken innocence. “I'm sorry, Papyrus…” She said with genuine remorse.

“come on, doc,” Sans spoke up, teetering between angry-sadness and disappointment.

“there’s got to be _something_ you can do to help.”

“I-I can't! I really can't, I'm...”

Alphys felt her soul get heavy, her body start to shake with guilt. Why were they trying to make her feel bad about this? This wasn't her fault. She couldn't save this dying monster- this wasn't her fault…

A tiny inner voice within her mind thought differently.

“I-I'm sorry….” She heard her voice waver again when she spoke. She saw Mettaton notice it too, and she prayed he didn't make a scene.

But it was Mettaton, so she knew it was inevitable.

“the problem’s with her soul, yeah?” Sans stubbornly argued on his brother's behalf. “well, you've worked with soul research. isn’t there anything you have that could heal it? at least enough to get her to a hospital?”

“If she said there's nothing left, why do you keep insisting she do something she's not capable of?” Mettaton countered back with a bitter expression. It didn't make Alphys feel any better. This conversation was entering a dangerous territory, and she could feel the sharp sting of panic start to form in her veins.

“because there has to be _something._ ” Sans retorted sharply, and Mettaton was surprised at the fact the skeleton wanted to continue the argument.

“you're telling me after years of soul research there isn't _anything_ alphys can do to help her?”

Alphys turned away from them, counting the deep breaths she was forcing herself to take.

“Sans- stop it. Stop doubting Dr Alphys.” Papyrus said, his voice uneven with tears and a heavy soul. “She wouldn't lie to us! So stop it!” He scolded.

 _1_ …. Alphys counted. _2…. 3_ …. the third breath collapsed ungracefully, so she tried again.

 _1…. 1…. 1_ ….

“doc, listen,” Sans spoke again, softer this time, with less intimidation, but Alphys jumped all the same. “i’m not doubting you. i just…. there's gotta be something you can do. please- she's my bro’s best friend….” He spoke the last part quieter, more just for her to hear. It made her feel worse.

Papyrus was such a good soul. He always respected her and treated her nicely- and here, a scientist who was supposed to study souls, couldn't even figure out how to keep his best friend alive long enough to get her to a hospital.

Alphys felt like she was going to throw up.

“That's enough.” Mettaton spoke up again.

“please, alphys…”

Alphys stared at the floor beneath them, her vision blurring with tears.

She was a screw up. She screwed up again, and again, and again….

“Y-you should've just…. t-taken her to the hospital….” She eventually mumbled out, shame burning her face.

“She didn't want that,” Papyrus argued. “She doesn't like them. I promised her I would take her to someone I trust- and I don't lie- I didn't want to break my promise!”

Alphys squeezed her eyes shut.

“You should've broken it.”

\---

_Papyrus and Sans had always been polar opposites, since the day their souls met the earth. Sans loved to sleep- loved it too much, in Papyrus’s opinion. He loved to sleep all night and take naps in the day. The very thought of that stressed Papyrus out in a way that made him need to go out and move his bones._

_In fact, just to cover for his lazy brother, Papyrus got up at 5:30am to start his morning exercise. He never set an alarm- just the urge to need to solve his brother’s laziness was enough incentive enough._

_So every morning, he woke up, put on his exercise uniform, yelled at the stray dog that_ somehow _had gotten in overnight (he was starting to think Sans was letting the menace in- he had a weird soft spot for things that tormented Papyrus), and started his morning jog._

_It was always refreshing, the cool air of the night was still hanging onto the plants and the promising warmth of the sun that would eventually show up to greet him was enough to bring a smile to his grinning face._

_Yes, Papyrus was a skeleton with standards. Very high ones. He followed routine twice as hard, since Sans seemed to never follow one, and kept to the straight and narrow path of safety and familiarity most of the time._

_Most of the time._

_Yes, even a skeleton with a routine as fantastic as his quickly grew tired of it (though he would never tell anyone that- he had a grand image to uphold!). He figured it was the lazy, bored gene Sans had, but in its lowest form. So sometimes, he liked to spice it up._

_Instead of jogging past the neighborhood so many times- he ventured out. The park. The empty downtown. Further, further out._

_Eventually, his stamina became strong enough to reach the local beach, and still have energy to spare._

_Papyrus loved the beach- it was a nice change of pace. It was empty so early in the morning, but he didn’t usually run along the sand anyway. He liked to jog along the boardwalk nearby, sometimes out to the pier to take a moment to look out into the ocean, and then back down to the boardwalk and then head back home to make him and Sans breakfast (sometimes if he was lucky, Sans would wake up without being physically dragged out of bed)._

_One morning, he had woken up 7 minutes later than usual, and decided that he should make up that time by working twice as hard on his run. That meant it extended out to the beach, and along the pier. So he did it- he quickly donned his exercise-friendly clothes and made his way to the empty beach, waving to any neighbors that might’ve been up early as well. He greeted some of the other humans that made rare appearances this early in the morning, even though Sans told him to be wary of some of them once out of the monster-living areas of neighborhoods._

_Some of them awkwardly waved back, but most of them turned the other way or hurried back inside. One of them made a remark about Halloween that Papyrus didn’t really understand, but he didn’t mind it. He knew the humans outside of monster-friendly areas were sometimes weird about certain monsters- but it didn’t matter. He had to be polite and greet them if he saw them! It was nice to show them he wasn’t a mean or scary monster, so he let any bad eggs amongst the nice humans that were accepting not get to him._

_As he hurried along the boardwalk, humming happily, he noticed this particular morning that the beach wasn’t as empty as it usually was. He stopped his running- something rare for him to do on a morning jog, especially when he had woken up late- and squinted. Somewhere, far along the beach, there were a couple people standing by a small boat close to the shore. They seemed… angry…?_

_He frowned, and cautiously took a few steps forward. They looked like they were crowded around something._

_Had a sea animal washed up on shore? Papyrus gasped- he knew he wasn’t as high in the ranks as the other workers in the aquarium, but it didn’t matter! If some creature was in trouble and he didn’t step in, what kind of terrible being would that make him?_

_He began to make his way towards the small group, hurrying to help. Excited to, actually. He ran against the traction of the sand with relative ease. Being helpful was-_

_One of the humans suddenly screamed out in pain, dropped down to the shallow water they were standing in, and the others around them started to shout and gang up on whatever they were looking at. Papyrus’s eyes widened and he moved faster. What were they doing?! They couldn’t attack it- it didn’t know better! It probably felt threatened! He hurried faster._

_“Grab the- Secure the net!”_

_“Argh, what the fuck?!”_

_Papyrus sprinted across the beach, the voices becoming clearer as he came closer, closer…_

_“Get off me if you know what’s good for you!”_

_“Watch out- it’s violent!”_

_“Ngah!”_

_Papyrus’s legs crashed against the strong, shallow waves as he approached them._

_“What’s going on here?” He asked, worried._

_Now, closer, he was able to get a better look at what was happening._

_It happened so quickly- but he could see the couple humans surrounding something (someone?) tangled up in a net. The something growled, clawed and fought against the few trying to overpower it._

_Then, Papyrus was roughly shoved into the water._

_The fear of the act was the worst part, probably. It hurt, crashing into the sand beneath and hitting his bones, but it wasn’t unbearable by any means. A wave crashed some salt against his body, and he felt his soul jump at the attack, but he lived._

_“Who is that?!”_

_“I don’t know- hey, buddy, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”_

_It took a moment for Papyrus to realize that was directed towards him. He scrambled up to his feet, feeling less-than-friendly now._

_“I came to help you guys- everyone was screaming and I thought-”_

_One of the men stepped forward, in what Papyrus figured was an intimidation tactic. It didn’t work too well, seeing that he was much shorter than the skeleton, but he said nothing, because he was pretty sure of the possibility that he might attack him again._

_“Well, maybe,” The other spoke again, sneering. Papyrus wasn’t too sure they were trying to help out the struggling animal a few feet away from them, anymore._

_“You need to mind your own fucking busin-”_

_The man suddenly crashed down to the shallow floor of the ocean beneath them, and the creature still tangled up in rotted, ripped netting jumped atop him and started to claw and scratch at him. The man struggled, gasped for air and tried to push the creature off of him. The handful of friends that the man seemed to have with him hurried to help, but the creature hissed and didn’t hesitate to attack the others as well. Papyrus tried to step in and help (because he was the only one there, he assumed, that was even remotely marine certified in any way!), but it was all so quick he could barely process what had happened. The colorful creature lashed out and struck one of the others across the face, hard enough for him to stumble back and fall, his face now bleeding. That gave it enough time to escape, and it quickly slithered away deeper into the water. Two of the others tried to chase it, but it was long-gone in a matter of seconds._

_“Shit- it got away!”_

_The one that had attacked Papyrus turned to face him again, and now he had a small limp in his step when he rushed over and shoved Papyrus down to the rough sand on the ocean floor once again. This time, his skull crashed into it rather harshly, and he winced._

_“You idiot!” He boomed from atop Papyrus, who had to take a few moments to focus from the strike against his skull. “Look what you’ve done- it fucking got away!”_

_Papyrus tried to shove the guy off, but the man beat him to it and delivered a swift punch to the side of his face. The strike shocked his vision into a blur again._

_“Next time, mind your business, do you hear me?!”_

_A wave crashed into Papyrus, and he coughed, shoving the man off of him, but the group already were hurrying back to their boat._

_“You know what….”_

_But he didn’t._

_Papyrus didn’t get to hear the end of the sentence, because the strike to his temple caused him to black out._

_…_

_He eventually had foggy vision return to him, and the nauseating feeling of being dragged back to consciousness, with the churning of a boat on the active waters almost caused him to fall forward onto his face. He gasped, stumbling and trying to get his hands out to catch his fall. When they didn’t move, he instead slumped against the large box to the left of him, coughing groggily._

_His head spinning and thumping rapidly, he took a moment to assess the situation._

_Boat. He was on a boat- no, the same boat of the 5 men from earlier, he could see them shuffling about and tending to things. He squinted, and noticed they weren’t too far from the shore of the beach, but they were definitely out too far for his tastes. The waves rocked the boat in a sickly way, and Papyrus had to take a breath to feel secure again._

_The sun wasn’t out too high yet, and the remnants of the night still lingered in the morning sky, so he knew not much time had passed yet. Assuming it was the same day._

_He frowned, and tried to fumble with the restraints on his arms and hands. Why?_

_Why did they take him with them? Why even bother?_

_“H.. Hey,” He called out to one of the humans, who glanced over at him. “What’s going on? Why did you do this?” He asked, a bit frightened._

_“Oh, nothing personal,” The human reassured, but the entire situation wasn’t assuring in any way. Papyrus wiggled against his restraints._

_“We just gotta make sure you’re not gonna go and snitch on us or go running off and tell anyone you saw that thing before us, or anything, ya know.” The human shrugged._

_“We’re gonna get a lot of money off it, so we don’t want no competition. We’ll let you go as soon as we find it again. But you were annoying, so be lucky that you’re getting off so easy. Boss might want to rough ya up a bit, but he’ll let you go. His problem ain’t with you. But hey, listen,” He moved closer to Papyrus, who recoiled with disgust twisting around his soul._

_These seemed like the kind of humans Sans told him to stay away from._

_“Next time, don’t poke your face into things that aren’t about you.”_

_Papyrus almost cried as soon as the human left. Turning to look over his shoulder, he could see the water swirling over the edge of the boat._

_He took a breath, tried to calm himself._

_He could probably escape if he really tried, but he was surrounded by ocean. Where would he even go? He wasn’t the best swimmer..._

_He slumped down, his soul quivering. How had this even happened? How had someone like the Great Papyrus gotten punished for wanting to be nice? Why were these particular humans so… mean? He knew many humans, but they were usually much nicer._

_He watched them all, uncharacteristically quiet. He wondered if, deep down, they too were good, and just got mixed up in bad business. It happened to monsters all the time, too._

_“C…. Can I please be untied?” He called out to one of them, his voice scratchy with sea salt._

_“No, it’s safer this way.”_

_“What? That doesn’t even make sense!” He protested._

_“You’re some type of monster- we don’t know what kind of stuff you got.”_

_“But I didn’t even do anything to you! I even tried to help you!” He argued, trying to show them that he was right._

_They ignored him._

_He wished he had a cell phone. Someone to call for help._

_“What are you guys looking for? I work for the aquarium- maybe I could help!” He suggested, wanting to get on their good sides._

_Three of them turned to him, spoke amongst themselves, then one of them stepped over to him._

_“Aquarium?”_

_Papyrus nodded._

_“Doing what?”_

_“Oh! Well, I work at a desk, and I help everyone who is lost or needs to buy entrance!”_

_“Oh,” The guy looked both unimpressed and relieved. Papyrus didn’t know why- his job was pretty cool. “So, not like some scientist?”_

_“No- But I do know almost all of the animals in the exhibit by heart! Maybe I can help you find the kind of fish you’re looking for!”_

_“Nah, this type of fish don’t live in those aquariums.”_

_“Well, then what are you looking for? I, Papyrus, will still attempt to help you, even though you have treated me poorly!” He announced proudly, but the others ignored him, and he wondered if he had just asked too much, or simply blew them away with his persistent helpfulness despite the way they acted towards him._

_Sighing, he glanced back towards the water, at the school of fish lazily swimming nearby the boat…_

_After a moment, he realized it wasn’t a school of fish, but one large fish. He moved closer, looking between the two wide metal bars that encircled the perimeter of the boat, and squinted. What type of fish was that…? It looked huge, probably close to his height in size, but in the dim light of the ever rising sun against the reflective water, he could see bright blue and red. He racked his brain trying to recall the saltwater display at the aquarium, at the type of fish there and the descriptions, but none of them seemed to fit._

_He watched it closely for a few silent moments, before he realized it was staring back at him._

_He felt uneasy, because it swam in place and silently watched him, calculating. It didn’t pace the perimeter of the boat like normal fish did.  It simply watched, watched for a long time. It had the patience of a creature that obviously thrived and survived in its habitat. If he had to guess, Papyrus would probably suggest it was pretty high on the predators-in-the-area-scale. Clearly, it wasn’t like the tiny, colorful marine fish he knew from the aquarium._

_He struggled to stand up without the help of his arms and hands, and eventually managed, lucky for his strong bones. He stood, and peered over the edge of the railing, wanting to get a closer look._

_Without missing a beat, the creature sprung out and grabbed onto his jogging shirt, and pulled him over the side of the boat and into the deep ocean._

_The shouts and panic of the men on the boat quickly became muffled beneath the white noise sound of being underwater, as well as his own shouts and panic._

_He couldn’t swim. He couldn’t swim and he couldn’t move and he couldn’t_ breathe.

_He pushed away the best he could with his restraints, frantic, hoping the creature would give him a chance to leave and that the men would pull him back in and let him go home._

_It didn’t._

_Papyrus gasped in sea water that seeped directly into his soul and shocked it. He was moving fast- or better said, the creature was dragging him along fast. Fast, fast, so fast that the dark water bubbled and blurred against his vision and his soul burned for air. He tried desperately to break away, to use all his strength and knowledge to break free, but the creature was stronger than him. In fact, he felt almost like a ragdoll in its grip._

_There was nothing he could do- and he felt his soul tremble threateningly._

_…_

_As soon as he could breathe again, his soul greedily begged for air. He felt himself cough weakly, but violently, though nothing much came up- there wasn’t a stomach for him to have swallowed sea water into._

_And yet, collapsed onto the sand and trembling violently, he couldn’t stop himself from coughing and gasping._

_It took a good few minutes for the shock to wear off, which included staring at the grains of sand inches away from his eyes and watching them slowly focus and shivering when the cold of the water coming into shore then wading back out touched him._

_Once his breathing was under control, he realized that he was, in fact: still alive, still tied up, and still on the beach._

_But most importantly still alive._

_“Damn, what a bunch of wimps, this is the weakest knot I’ve ever seen,” He heard a voice mumble behind him, and he immediately jumped and tried to scramble away._

_“Hey- hey, wait!” The voice shouted, and a strong force pulled his (now weak from stress and panic) body back towards it. A second later, he felt his arms slouch forward and he realized they were free. Painfully, he quickly got to his feet and turned to the voice._

_A monster with vibrant blue scales and horribly messy red hair stared back at him._

_It was too overwhelming, and Papyrus started to scream._

_“SHH!” The monster yelled (somehow) and hurried over and covered his face with her hands (she couldn’t exactly tell if covering his teeth would help so she opted for the entire face)._

_“Are you_ trying _to get someone to hear you?!”_

_“Yes!” Papyrus protested, shoving her hands away. She glared at him._

_“Well, could’ya not?” She asked with clear annoyance. “Damn, after I went through all that trouble, too- be grateful, kid! That was some soul-risking shit out there!”_

_Papyrus watched her for a few moments, saying nothing._

_“...What?”_

_“You’re what they’re looking for, right?” He asked, not rudely, not smugly, not anything other than genuine concern. The monster gave him a suspicious look, but eventually nodded._

_“Wow- Why? How?” Suddenly, as if it hit Papyrus all at once, he became excited. “How did you swim out that far? That’s so cool!”_

_The monster scoffed, but she was grinning, so Papyrus figured he had done something right._

_“Uh, it’s kind of… my home?” She laughed a bit. “I live out there- you get used to it-”_

_She suddenly froze, then scowled at Papyrus, before lunging forward. He yelped, and she wrestled him into a headlock._

_“Why do you need to know?! Do you expect me to give you all my answers, huh, punk?!”_

_“No, no! I’m sorry! I’m_ sorry! _”_

_“Yeah, ya better be!” She exclaimed, squeezing harder into the headlock, to which Papyrus yelped again and frantically tried to escape._

_“I’m not giving you any answers to report back to your friends on the boat!”_

_“They’re not my friends! I swear!”_

_“Why were you with them?!”_

_“They kidnapped me!”_

_That seemed to be the magic phrase, because she let go of Papyrus a moment after._

_Sitting up, he huffed and crossed his arms at her._

_“That’s not any way to treat a stranger!”_

_“Tell me about it…” She mumbled to herself, and Papyrus only became more annoyed. After a moment, she met his eyes and became a bit…. Bashful?_

_“Uh, listen…” She started. “Sorry, okay…? It’s just… I don’t know. You don’t seem like a bad kid, but you never know- you know?”_

_“Tell me about it.” He echoed with an exasperated sigh, and the blue monster laughed again, louder this time._

_“Anyway,” She spoke up again, an easy smile now on her face as a ghost of her past laughter._

_“I don’t usually do this, so you better feel pretty damn special, alright?!” Her expression shifted to a threatening scowl, and Papyrus wondered why she had wanted him to be quiet if she was practically yelling herself._

_“But, uh…. I’m Undyne!” She grinned at him, and Papyrus immediately was amazed by the sharp teeth. “And you're welcome- for being saved and all.” She finished, proudly._

_“Hi Und- Wait,” Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets at her suspiciously. “Why did you do that?”_

_“Do what?”_

_“Save me.”_

_Undyne looked bashful again. “Oh. Well….” She gave a little shrug. “I dunno- it’s like I said earlier, you really do seem like a sweet kid, just caught up in the wrong place.” She paused._

_“Plus, I guess, you did kind of save me first, so it’s only right that I return the favor. Those guys are assholes- I figured you weren’t with them, what with you being tied up and attacked and all…”_

_Papyrus shook his head. “No, I wasn’t. I was actually just passing by- I thought something washed up on the beach! I wanted to help them push back in whatever animal washed up!”_

_Undyne watched him with a wide eye, and Papyrus wondered what had happened to the other. “You’d really do that…?”_

_“Of course!” He said, genuine. He was somewhat offended that Undyne would think anything else, but he didn’t press her on it. He recalled their few mutual acquaintances, and figured her experiences might be much more different than his._

_“Well, I’m Papyrus!” He responded. “And you're welcome for being saved too, I guess!”_

_Undyne laughed again, and when Papyrus held out his hand to shake hers, she watched it with confusion. She reached out and swatted it away. He ignored it._

_“Wait- you didn’t answer my question!” He said with an accusatory voice._

_“Which one?”_

_“How did you do that?” He asked again, amazed._

_“Oh, uh….” She looked up in thought, humming. “Well, hm… I guess- this is probably the easiest and fastest explanation.” She concluded after a while, before raising her arms and motioning to the set of gills lined against the side of her body._ _Papyrus gasped in pure wonder, and hurried closer._

_“Wowie!!” He exclaimed, practically shoving his face into them to get a good look._

_“H-hey! Back off!” Undyne warned, moving away from him with a glare._

_“That’s so cool! You’re just like a fish!”_

_She scoffed. “Um, duh. I_ am _one.” She said as if it was obvious, but Papyrus shook his head._

_“No, you’re a monster, just like me!”_

_“How are you going to tell me what I am? I’m a fish!” She argued, offended._

_“No, you have a monster soul- I can feel it!”_

_Undyne crossed her arms, looking unimpressed. “Fine, so I’m a little different- so what?!” She huffed. “That doesn’t make me any less of a fish, got it?!”_

_“Okay!” Papyrus agreed, and Undyne seemed surprised at how he seemed to actually, wholeheartedly agree._

_“But then how do you breathe outside?”_

_Undyne looked at him with a confused expression. “Outside?”_

_“Outside the ocean-Like right now!”_

_She shrugged after a moment of thought. “Don’t know.”_

_He frowned a little. “What do you mean you don’t know?”_

_“I mean I don’t know! I just do!” She argued back, defensively._

_“How do you breathe just being bones?”_

_Papyrus thought about it for a moment, but he found he didn’t really have an answer, so he shrugged as well._

_“See what I mean!” Undyne said with a grin. “Hey, uh…. I don’t really… do things like this, usually,” She started again, more serious this time. “So, uh, if you could…_ not _tell those humans about me…”_

_“Why are they looking for you, Undyne?” He asked with concern, again, and she looked up and sighed._

_“I don’t know. They think I’m something I’m not- I think. I know people take fish out of the ocean all the time- but they’re very violent about it.” She practically growled out the last part. “They don’t respect us. They take, and take, and take from the ocean and never give back.”_

_Papyrus nodded, frowning. “I understand that. I won’t tell them- I don’t think I want to see them again, anyway.”_

_Undyne laughed again, loudly, and she punched Papyrus’s arm good-naturedly. But it was much stronger than he anticipated, and he fell over a bit, which only caused her to laugh even more._

_Sans was definitely going to be shocked at breakfast that morning when Papyrus told him about his morning run._

\---

“There is… something else you can do.” Mettaton said after a few minutes of heavy, sad silence. It was quiet, and more towards Alphys, but Sans and Papyrus looked up anyway.

Alphys gave Mettaton a nervous look, but prompted him to continue.

“Well,” He said, pausing to think about how to word this without giving too much away. “You said a large portion of damage is to her soul, correct?”

“Um, sort of. T-the damage is largely towards her inner organs, b-but monsters deal direct damage to our souls…” She bit her lip. “H-her soul is very damaged, and even if the spear gets removed, the damage to her soul is too much…” She explained.

“Then all you would need to do is-”

Alphys felt her soul shrink in fear, and she acted fast.

“C-Can I talk to you privately for a sec, MTT?” She suddenly (frantically) interrupted, barely allowing the sentence to leave her mouth before hurrying over to the hallway. Frowning, Mettaton followed, leaving Sans and Papyrus to watch the uneasy trembling of the soul on the SOUL Monitor.

“What are you doing….?” Alphys whispered to him, worried.

“Alphys,” he started. “He’s right. There is _something_ you can do. You know that.”

“No,” she quickly shook her head. “No, Mettaton, I can't- you know I can't…!”

“Alphys, listen-”

“I c-can't! I can't inject her with DT. I can't a-and I won't.”

“And why not?!” He bit back, louder than their previously whispered argument. Alphys watched him with a hurt expression, her hands wringing and gripping onto the labcoat she was wearing.

“Y….You know why…” She said after a moment, her voice falling as quickly as her sight fell to the floor. “I-I can't….. it doesn’t work…”

“Alphys,” Mettaton repeated, quieter this time, more empathetic. “I know you're scared…. and I know _why_ you should be. But… You said it yourself- she's going to fall anyway.”

“Please.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Please, d-drop it, okay?”

“No! Alphys- everyone has to make mistakes.”

“ _Please.”_

“She's falling down anyway,” He argued, stubborn as ever, and Alphys had to wonder how they ever agreed on anything. “If you try nothing, she’ll die. If you try something-”

Alphys gripped onto her head, and sunk down to the floor, trying to block out his words. She felt even worse when she couldn't stop herself from crying.

She could feel Mettaton watching her, his sight was burning into her soul. But even with the embarrassment- she _couldn't_ stop herself from crying. She was scared. She was _terrified._ She was a fraud. She couldn't help this monster- she couldn't help any of them…

“Alphys…” She heard Mettaton speak up after a couple moments of her trying desperately to cry without bringing attention from the other room. She felt his hand on her shoulder after a beat, and she flinched, but he didn't remove it.

“This is the only chance you can have to save her. You have good intentions.”

She choked out a sob- the words weren't making her feel any better. She knew what she was: a failure.

“I c-c-can't, I can't do i-it….!” She begged him to stop, to give her a path other than this one.

“No, you're the only one who can.” He replied simply, but it only made her cry even more.

So he let her. Mettaton let her cry for a few passing minutes, until she had a massive headache and her body was shaking.

“..... I c-can't….” she mumbled. “W-what if ….. I can't….. I have t-too many mistakes to live with….. _please_ , please d-don't make me do this….”

He shook his head. “Do you want let her die and have this be another mistake? You're going to feel guilty for not being able to save her.” He said bluntly- but it's what she needed, so she nodded a little in agreement.

“Wouldn't you much rather have tried and failed than not at all?”

For some reason, this hit her with a pang to her soul.

She fell silent, watching the tiled floor she was sitting on for a few moments. Upset. Hurt. Angry.

But it was true.

Alphys knew she had failed. She had failed many times, over and over and over. She had failed many times over before she could even gather the first Determination extraction. She failed at the many attempts of injection and cell duplication, at saving all those monsters lives. She even failed at Determination injections with beings without souls. She had failed countless of times….

She was a fraud- a liar. She lied about her job and her qualifications. She lied to her boss, to her friends, and if her family had still been around, she would lie to them too. She was a failure, and a fraud...

But in the end- she was the only scientist, between both monsters and humans, that was able to harness Determination at all.

Amongst all of the terrible things she had done, she had also done a few things correct.

She was awful, and terrible to live with, and she was a failure and a fraud and so many things… but she was also the only one who could have a chance at saving Undyne.

Papyrus said he trusted her- Sans said she was the only one they could go to. Any other doctors would've sent Undyne straight to surgery, or simply pronounce her dead (as she had, ashamedly, done in a way) due to the extreme damage on her soul.

She was the only one who even had the slightest chance to give a different ending to this.

This harsh reality, the sight of the cold floor, and the words Mettaton had said ringing in her ears, filled her with something…. something beyond her body could even comprehend physically. Something that terrified her cells and made them tremble with confusion.

Roughly wiping her tears on her sleeves, she took a deep breath, and stood up, silent.

She made her way back to the room with the two skeletons, and spoke very seriously, the two watching her with confused, but trusting expressions.

“T-there's no guarantee it'll work,” She announced suddenly, her voice wavering with fear from what was very much about to happen.

“But…. there is…. one more thing we can try.”

\---

_“I still think it’s cool- being a fish with a monster soul.”_

_Undyne shrugged._

_“It gets lonely.” She admitted after a moment._

_“What do you mean?” Papyrus asked._

_“Well, I haven’t really met any others with souls.”_

_“Oh. Well- there’s plenty of souls outside of the ocean!” He suggested._

_Undyne grimaced. “No thanks.”_

_Papyrus frowned. “How come? Why do you stay down there?”_

_Undyne picked up a stone from the many scattered about the low tide shoreline, and flung it out to water. It skipped a few times, before sinking down, and Undyne gave a little cheer for herself._

_“I already told you,” she replied, and she had, several weeks ago, but Papyrus still asked. “I don't like too many of the people out here. No respect. I feel more in my element down there- anyway.”_

_“But that's only because you haven't met my other friends!” Papyrus argued. “They are all very very great people!”_

_Undyne scoffed. “Is that so? I don't know. It's weird- plus, it's much more exciting down there- you should try it sometime!”_

_“I can't swim.” Papyrus sighed._

_“Oh. Yeah. That sucks for you- you're missing out!”_

_Papyrus picked up a rock and tossed it into the ocean. It didn't skip at all, but Undyne cheered for it anyway._

_“Worry not- I am, in fact, not missing out at all!” Papyrus beamed happily, and before Undyne had a chance to become offended, he explained. “You see Undyne, I work in an aquarium!”_

_“A what?” She asked, her head cocking to the side with confusion._

_“It's like…..” He paused, trying to figure out a way to explain it so that she would understand. “The ocean- but above ground!”_

_Undyne’s expression lit up in amazement, and Papyrus felt happy she understood. “WHAT?! That's so COOL! You guys have that?!”_

_“Yes!” He confirmed with returned excitement. “You can go inside and everyone can walk around inside a huge ocean- but it's like everyone is in a giant air bubble, so they don't need to know how to swim or breathe underwater or anything!”_

_She laughed. “Seems like the perfect job for you- no swimming experience needed.” She teased, shoving him playfully.  “I gotta see this ‘land-ocean’ one day, Papyrus!”_

_“We can visit whenever you'd like!” He told her happily. “I have an annual pass!”_

_She didn't know what that meant, but Papyrus said it with pride, so she figured it must be really cool._

_“Yeah- but I don't want to be with all those other people.” She made a face. He understood- over time, she had begun to tell him about her encounters with other humans and monsters who treated her poorly, so now she avoided them (moreso humans, he noted, but they were usually the ones causing trouble, because there was more of them, so he wasn’t too surprised) at all costs. He could understand why._

_“Oh. Well, that might be a bit difficult. It's usually active until closing.”_

_“Then you've gotta take me after closing!” She concluded excitedly. “It's the perfect plan- then we've got the land-ocean all to ourselves!”_

_“I will do no such thing!” He huffed, offended that she would even suggest that. “That's illegal, Undyne! That's called breaking and entering!”_

_She laughed again, and shoved him again. It was normal for her, he noticed, to be rather rough and tactile. He got used to it._

_“So? Live a little!”_

_“The Great Papyrus does not engage in_ any _illegal activity!”_

_She reached over and (harshly) poked a disc on his spine, and he yelped with surprise and flinched away. “The ‘Great Papyrus’ sounds soooo boring sometimes!” She laughed, and he huffed with an offended scowl, which only caused her to laugh even more._

_This was usually how their meetings went. Papyrus woke up even earlier now, and jogged to the beach, and got to hang out with Undyne under the blanket of night until the sun would start to rise and she would return back to the ocean before the beach became lively. It quickly became routine, and Papyrus found that it was his best routine yet._

_Befriending someone like Undyne was so different. She wasn't like any other of his friends- she was loud and sometimes violent and angry, but also funny and clueless for many things that Papyrus had no problem teaching her about. In return, she taught him a lot about her life, and he eagerly listened to it all._

_“.... I rescued someone, the other day…” She told him one early morning that they had been laying on the cool sand of the beach._

_He sat up and looked at her curiously._

_“I thought you didn't do things like that?”_

_She frowned up at the night sky in thought- clearly this was something she had been reflecting on in her mind. “I don't. You know I don't. I just…. I wasn't even planning on it. I was just passing by, and I saw them- they were struggling, and I felt so overwhelmed with the need to help….” she scoffed a little at her words, a defense mechanism. “Weird, huh?”_

_“I don't think it is.” He said, and it was true. He didn’t._

_“Ugh- not for you! You help_ everyone _, but me? That's not how it works out there. Ya gotta fend for yourself, you know….” she sighed._

_“So then, why did you save them?”_

_“I don't know!” She shouted with slight frustration. “That's the problem. I don't know why- I just did. I don't even know who it was- I guess someone found out where they were. I was trying to get them to wake up, but someone rushed over so I left.” She sighed. “I dunno. I felt like it was the right thing to do- I wanted to save them. They woke up after a while- I saw them. So they're at least alive.”_

_“I'm proud of you, Undyne!” Papyrus smiled. “That was very heroic!”_

_“Heroic…?” She sat up. “What's that?”_

_“It's someone who is very brave and courageous!”_

_“Ohh,” she paused. “Yep- thats me! Undyne, the heroic!” She announced proudly, and posed, and Papyrus laughed._

_\---_

A loud silence fell upon the three monsters as they watched Dr Alphys prep the lab table and injection.

“S-see, this?” She motioned to the syringe with a bright, glowing green liquid. She didn't want to pick it up yet. She didn't want to hold it longer than she had too.

“I'm…. going to i-inject her with it. B-but, this doesn't mean i-it'll work, okay?” She spoke with a shaking voice. She didn’t supply them with any knowledge of what it was or where it came from, and out of respect, neither of them seemed to question it. “A-and it's painful, and so she might scream o-or her body could reject it or…”

Alphys trailed off, and looked over at the threatening syringe again. The syringe filled with DT. The DT she had to go down to the True Lab to obtain. The True Lab she had to look the Amalgamates in the eye in. The DT that, when she had taken a sample of it, the Amalgamates all began to scatter and panic and knock things over about- possibly fearing that Alphys would give them more, she assumed.

She gulped.

“It's okay, Dr Alphys,” Papyrus spoke up, his voice filled with concern. “Anything you can- as long as she has a chance to be okay.”

Alphys wasn't sure why she teared up so quickly at those words.

She kept her eyes on the syringe. The very liquid that tormented her day and night. Images of past experiments flashed against her vision, and she tensed up.

She wasn't sure if she could do this.

After she didn't move, Mettaton eventually stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Darling, no matter what happens, you did your best.” He reminded her, and she took in a shaky breath.

“.... A-after I inject her…. I’m g-going to move her downstairs and monitor her there. I have more equipment down there…” She lied. Her entire lab was down there. “And…. well, we’ll see from there. O-okay?”

“thank you, doc.” Sans said suddenly, and even though she knew what exactly he was thanking her for, Alphys braced herself as her trembling hands reached for the DT.

“Don't thank me just yet…” She sighed, and stepped forward towards Undyne’s dangerously calm form.

\---

Undyne felt burning, incomprehensible, agonizing pain seep into her soul, and she screamed.

\---

Though she had already seen it many times, seeing Undyne’s body go from lifeless to arch up against the heavy restraints in unbearable pain made Alphys’s mind cloud a bit. The memories from before flooded back in, and she panicked. She started hyperventilating.

Undyne screeched in an ungodly manner, and it filled the house as she writhed and twitched and begged for it to stop, and Alphys felt the dark feeling of dread stab into her soul and the uprise of a panic attack begin.

“W-what have I done?” Alphys asked no one in particular, with a blank expression, but Mettaton hurried over and tried to reassure her as Sans and Papyrus cowered in fear.

“No, no, listen, this is fine, darling,” Mettaton told her as he grabbed her trembling hands. She shook her head, and this time he flinched when Undyne screamed out in pain again. The SOUL monitor started to beep and overheat, so Mettaton urged Alphys to hurry her to the lab.

Much of it was a blur to Alphys. Without much feeling (the reality of the situation shocked emotion out of her for a while), she nodded and hurried Undyne into the True Lab. By this time, she had stopped screaming, and instead simply lay lifeless against the stretcher they had strapped her to earlier.

Alphys wasn't sure which was worse.

As she and Mettaton hurried into the True Lab, she had to face the Amalgamates staring at the new monster with curiosity and fear. Harshly, she shooed them away.

She had to isolate Undyne in a room- she couldn't risk her melting with any of the others. She couldn't handle another repeat…

So instead, she isolated Undyne and herself in an empty room (she forced Mettaton to go upstairs to tend to the skeletons, and he reluctantly left), hooked her up to the SOUL Monitor again, and waited.

After about half a minute, she heard one of the Amalgamates scratch against the shut door, and she burst into tears.

“Oh _god,_ w-what have I _done_ ….?” She repeated into the empty space, sobbing openly. It felt good,  but in the worst way. She felt the release of all the emotions she had been feeling since Undyne arrived, but it was so intense that her body was violently trembling.

But she didn't care. She cried, and screamed, and begged and prayed and pleaded for some sort of miracle. Undyne didn't move. The SOUL Monitor showed a flickering, delicate monster soul. Occasionally, Undyne twitched or whined, but other than that, there was little response.

Alphys, calmer now, after a good hour or so of crying and panic, cautiously walked over towards Undyne.

She just felt empty now. Like a hollow shell, so she didn’t really think much as she reached towards the spear and slowly pulled it from her side until it was actually being pulled out- Alphys had to take deep breaths and force herself to not run from the situation and pull it out correctly.

Undyne’s body didn't move. It didn't tense up or flinch and she didn't scream. Alphys had to take a breath to stop herself from crying again. That meant the DT had definitely entered her system.

She started to gag at the smell of old blood and open wound, so she hurried over towards the cabinet of the room and grabbed a bandage to wrap around Undyne’s waist. It wasn't new- she had injected DT into two other monsters with severe injury as hers. She hadn't removed the items, but the DT caused the wound to close up anyway and the item to break off, so she figured just removing it now while Undyne was in such an unfeeling, lifeless state would be easier.

If she survived longer than three days (which was very giving- the longest was two), at least it would be three days without a half a spear embedded into healed, vital organs, threatening to cause a bigger issue. Grabbing a pair of scissors, she snipped and cut away at the fabric hastily tied around the monster’s waist and bandaged her up.

She was fine wrapping the wound until she heard Endogeny’s chorus of soft whines from outside the door.

Then she started to cry again.

She tried to ignore it. She cried, but she still wrapped the gaping wound until it was covered. She cried, but she still checked the SOUL Monitor through her tears. She felt heavy with exhaustion. She cried, but she still examined Undyne’s scales, the gills on her side, and eventually the features on her face.

Eventually calming down, she sniffled, and noticed that Undyne didn't seem to have a nose. Which made sense, in retrospect, but she found herself fascinated all the same. She wondered if she'd get the chance to ask her about her biology in the small window of time she might have before the DT melted her away. Guilt bubbled up inside her at the idea that she had essentially just prolonged this monster’s death rather than saved its life, but she forced the bitter taste of it down.

She focused on Undyne’s features again- at the bright red, terribly messy hair that was caked in salt and the large fins where ears would normally stand. Alphys watched those with fascination, able now to take the time to view the intricate details without much distraction.

She eventually found herself back at the empty eye socket. There was definitely a story there, and Alphys wanted to hear it. As soon as she realized this, though, she felt shame burn at her soul at such a selfish desire, so she forced the thought away again.

She studied the bright scales, colorful fins, and all the features of Undyne's face

She was hit with the stunning realization that Undyne was…. well, stunning. Beautiful- in a way she couldn't pinpoint. In a dangerous way. A kind of beauty that was found in the oddest of ways, but amazed and dazzled and terrified and-

Undyne was beautiful like a brand new scientific discovery.

Undyne was someone she could've met if she had just believed in Papyrus months ago.

Alphys felt tears sting at her eyes again when she heard Lemon Bread humming to herself outside the door, and she closed her eyes and allowed herself to cry for one last time.

\---

 

Alphys considered herself a very light sleeper. It was yet another curse carried over from her anxiety, but she learned to live with it.

Which is why, when she woke up groggy and sore and leaning against an empty lab stretcher with a fire alarm blaring in her ears and distant screaming coming from upstairs, she had to wonder why she hadn't woken up immediately.

She yawned, blinking and wincing a bit as her eyes stung with all of yesterday's tears, before panic and realization of the chaos around her set in, and she sprung up out of her chair, her muscles aching with protest against the poor sleeping position and sudden movement.

Undyne was gone.

Not only gone, but she had escaped the restraints. Alphys scrambled over towards the table. They weren't undone, but instead looked like they had been teared apart.

Cold, unsettling fear filled her now shaking body.

The door behind her was open.

Undyne had escaped.

The fire alarm screeching into her ears, her worst fears filled her mind as she ran out of the True Lab as quickly as she could.

The Amalgamates scrambled about and complained frantically at the noises but Alphys didn't have time to take a head count. She wasn't sure which Undyne fused with, but she didn't have time to guess either.

Flinging the True Lab door open, her heartbeat pounded against her chest roughly as she sprinted upstairs to whatever horror awaited her.


	4. Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ:  
> woowwww ok wow hi! Its been quite a while........ I don't really have much of an explanation besides life catching up with me. Its been really hard to sit down and work on this, and a lot of the times that i did, I would lose any passion behind it- and I didn't want to force it for me to have to scrap something terrible. This chapter was originally supposed to be MUCH longer, and the fact that its ending up so short is killing me to post (essentially, this chapter and the next were suppsed to be together, but it became too difficult to write like that). I'm hoping that in posting the half i have finished, ill be encouraged to finish the second half in a way.  
> BTW thank you to everyone who commented and encouraged me to continue!! its honestly so helpful and reassuring, thank you aaaa  
> I hope this tiny chapter is alright for right now! I hope that i can get the next one up soon!  
> (and yes the chapter name is self shade fsdkufkd)

Alphys wasn’t athletic by any means, but she was sure she could fool herself on that aspect by the way she raced up those stairs.

  
“Get away from me!” She heard Mettaton yell in horror, his voice carrying above the loud fire alarm and other arguments, and she almost slammed into the wall as she rounded the corner. She could smell the smoke now, and she coughed as she crashed into the living room.

  
“Mettaton!” She gasped, fearing the worst. She collapsed onto the floor and tried to catch her breath. She really needed to work out more...  
“Oh, thank _god_ , you’re finally up, darling.”

  
But it didn’t sound like someone who was scared, or even remotely trembling in fear at whatever horrible creation escaped from the lab.

  
In fact, it mostly just sounded like someone who was exasperated and annoyed.

  
Confused, she glanced up, but then noticed a beam of blue light headed her way.

  
“NGAH!”

  
With a cry of fear, Alphys flinched down and covered her head as a loud crash sounded next to her.

  
Slowly, she lifted her head, and was met with a glowing blue spear lodged into the side of her wall.

  
“What is _wrong_ with you?!” Mettaton shouted from a few feet away, but Alphys didn’t take her eyes off the bright, glowing spear, her heart thudding harshly in her chest.

  
“Oh, it's just you- whoops!” Another voice- an unfamiliar voice- called out, and Alphys whipped her head around to face it.

  
From across the room, Undyne, standing tall, healthy, and proud, gave her a bashful wave as embarrassment dusted her features.  
Undyne. Not another Amalgamate, but Undyne. Just as she had seen her before- better than she had seen her before. She was breathing and grinning and moving and living (and also wearing a silk robe? She'd have to ask later).

  
Alphys wanted to ask how, and why, and try to make sense of it all, but when she opened her mouth to do so, this came out instead:

  
“Did….. d-did you just try to kill me?!”

  
Undyne’s expression shifted- from bashful and grinning to defensive.

  
“I said it was an accident!!” She shouted back. Loudly, actually. Loud enough to easily carry over the obnoxious beeping of the fire alarm and loud enough to cause Alphys to flinch.

  
“You tried to kill me!” Alphys repeated with shock.

  
“An _accident_!” Undyne said with annoyance.

  
“Food’s ready!” Someone else called, and Alphys turned to see Papyrus waltzing in with a pan of what was probably food at one point. Now it was just a charred ramen noodle box on fire.

  
“Oh my _god_.”

  
“Wow!” Undyne said with excitement as she hurried over to the pan of fire. “Looks good, Papyrus!”

  
“Well I _am_ a professional-!”

  
“O-oh my god!!” Alphys rushed over, panicking as she grabbed the pan from him. Papyrus began to protest, but she didn't listen as she hurried to the kitchen and dumped it into the sink, slamming on the water and coughing as the smoke billowed up around her face.

  
“Dr Alphys!” Papyrus hurried in after her, and Undyne did as well. “I _already_ soaked it!”

  
“W-what's going on here?!” Alphys said between her coughs, waving the smoke away from her face. She glanced over towards the stove-top, only to see a small fire forming there as well, and did a double-take. Gasping, she panicked.

  
“Oh my god! The _stove_!” She hurried over towards it, though she mostly just panicked at a closer distance than putting it out immediately. Mettaton rushed into the kitchen now as well after hearing this, and gasped loudly, not inequivalent to Alphys’s.

  
“Whoopsie! Do not worry, Dr Alphys!” Papyrus said heroically, joining her with a pot of water. “The Great Pa-”

  
Alphys’s life practically flashed before her eyes (which was unsurprisingly disappointing) as she realized he would try to pour it over the fire, and she forcefully pushed him away. He yelped with surprise and the pot dropped to the floor with a loud crash, the water spilling out all over the kitchen floor, and stared at her with shock.

  
“NO!” She shouted wildly, though she knew he truly meant no harm, and instead ripped the bag of salt from the cabinet on her left, pouring as much as she could onto the small fire without hesitation.

  
It went out almost immediately, but Alphys didn’t take chances and continued to pour the most of the bag onto it.

  
The three monsters stared at the stove, Alphys trying to catch her breath, Papyrus now drenched from the water splashing onto him, and Undyne guiltily looking at the salt, feeling out of place and nervous as they stood on the drenched kitchen floor.

  
The smoke alarm still screamed in their ears, so Mettaton shouted: “Can someone turn that _god-awful_ thing off already?!” with annoyance, clearly having his patience run out.

  
Alphys could relate.

“got it.” Sans called calmly, before violently throwing a spare bone at the smoke alarm.

  
It fell, crashed to the kitchen floor, and broke into several pieces. The batteries scattered across the kitchen with the force of the fall, and disappeared in the corners and under the fridge.

  
Alphys looked at the broken, now silenced alarm, blinked, and then looked over at Sans with unamused disappointment. She stayed silent, and honestly looked like she was about to cry, so Sans started to panic a little.

  
“whoops.” He said with an awkward grin, trying to break the silence. It didn’t help, and now Mettaton was glaring at him. “....uh, sorry about that.”

  
He truly didn’t mean to hit it with such force, but nobody seemed to buy that. He braced himself when he saw Papyrus shift to begin to reprimand him, but Alphys spoke up first, surprising everyone:

  
“Living room.” She said blankly, and didn’t offer much explanation to that statement as she silently walked out of the kitchen.  
The others exchanged looks, except for Mettaton, who gave an exasperated sigh and followed Alphys.

  
\---

  
“Explain.”

  
Alphys started, calmly enough, but Mettaton knew her well enough that the stress of the situation was weighing on her. The other three fell silent, then tried to speak all at once. Alphys tensed up, and Mettaton stood up and silenced them all before she could start to become too overwhelmed. She gave him a grateful look.

  
“ _I’ll_ start,” He announced, stepping in front of the three outsiders and addressing Alphys directly. Sans shrugged and instead retired to the other sofa. Clearly Mettaton wanted to be in charge, and letting others be in charge and responsible for things was kind of his speciality. Papyrus stepped back out of respect (but he was also a bit starstruck to see his favorite celebrity up close even now as semi-acquaintances!), but Undyne didn’t bother moving and crossed her arms, frowning at the itchy robe she was forced to wear.

  
“Last night, after you took our…” Mettaton spared a glanced at Undyne, and grimaced a little. She scowled at him. “ _Guest_ downstairs, you locked yourself up and didn’t come back up. I went to check on you a few times, but I figured you had just fallen asleep.”

  
Alphys nodded. She realized that, she needed the information in between. “W… what happened after?” She cautiously asked.

  
“Well,” Mettaton started with a motorized sigh. “Eventually, it got really late, and I needed to charge. You know how important beauty sleep is, darling.”  
Alphys gave him a exasperated look.

  
“And since, well, these two are close friends of yours, I figured it would be fine if they stayed the night- until we had an update on the… situation.”

  
Papyrus nodded, enthusiastic. “Yes! And I am an excellent houseguest, after all!”

  
“it’s true- he is. he even cleaned a little.” Sans yawned from his place on the sofa. Alphys felt guilty, and her eyes widened as she turned to Mettaton.

  
“You let him clean?!”

  
“More like he didn’t allow me to not let him, but yes, I suppose.” Mettaton shrugged.

  
“Mettaton!” She expressed with exasperation. How did he not see the issue? “This isn’t his house!”

  
“Yes, but this place was a mess.” He stage-whispered, and Alphys felt more embarrassment and shame cling to her soul at this. It was true- the house was usually messy with paperwork, loose pieces of machinery, scripts, and glitter, and that was on a good day-but he didn’t have to say it.

  
Plus- Alphys had some pretty embarrassing things lying around. She didn't want them to become common knowledge.

  
“That’s okay, Dr Alphys!” Papyrus spoke up again, chipper. “I am used to cleaning up after Sans anyway- this was only slightly worse!”

  
It didn’t make her feel much better- Sans was notoriously messy.

  
“W-well, uh, thank you, Papyrus…” She frowned, forcing herself to ignore how ashamed she currently was. Part of her wanted to ask how much he had seen, but the other half of her told her that ignorance is bliss, and maybe Papyrus didn't see the Robot Romance anime merch.

  
She glanced around at the room, which was still extremely messy, despite the news that Papyrus cleaned. Alphys knew Papyrus wouldn’t lie, or do anything with half effort, or even give up on a task. She looked over at the broken coffee table, the armchair that was toppled over, and some anime figurines scattered about the carpet, and gave Mettaton a confused look.

  
“If you’re wondering about the extreme mess,” Mettaton said flatly, unimpressed, before motioning to Undyne, who was surprisingly quiet during the exchange. “You can thank our _wonderful_ houseguest for that one.”

  
“Hey!” Undyne yelled back in response, immediately defending herself now that attention was on her. “That’s not true at all!”

  
“It’s a little true, Undyne.” Papyrus admitted easily, not scolding but just a bit disappointed, and Sans nodded as he began to doze off.

  
“Who’s side are you on here?!” She asked, offended that Papyrus didn’t defend her case.

  
“T-there aren’t sides!” Alphys quickly argued, nervous that Undyne would get violent again. She didn’t know much about her, but she knew enough to want to avoid any anger. The DT might’ve made her more aggressive, so she needed to watch her words. “I just want to know what happened…!”

  
“Fine! I can tell you that!” Undyne retorted back, and Mettaton groaned.

  
“Oh, this’ll be promising.”

  
“What? Do you think I’m going to lie to her or something?!” Undyne huffed. “Man, you sure are judgy- you barely know me!”

  
Mettaton blinked at her, unimpressed. “I meant moreso because I would love to see how you defend putting three holes in our walls.”

  
“ _Three_?!” Alphys repeated with shock, now searching the walls of the room. She could only count two- the one that almost struck her, and another by the stairs. She felt her chest tighten at the heavy feeling that there was a lot of property damage in several places of the house- some she hadn’t even seen yet.

  
“Gladly!” Undyne announced, stepping in front of Mettaton and addressing Alphys directly, which made her very nervous in a way she couldn’t quite pinpoint or explain.

  
“Well, if you woke up in a new place- strapped down- and your last memories were of people attacking you, wouldn’t you be on edge too?”

  
“‘ _On edge_ ’,” Repeated Mettaton with sass, even though it wasn’t his question. “You tried to kill me the moment you saw me.”

  
“I didn’t know who you were! Aren’t you listening to me?!” She voiced with irritation. “It was out of self defense!”

  
“Three times.”

  
“W-wait,” Alphys interrupted before Undyne could continue, and instead stood and walked over to her. The gears were turning in her mind, and she approached the other with a curious look- like she was an unexpected variable- and reached out to touch Undyne’s arm. She immediately flinched back and stepped away from Alphys, who realized she had just grabbed at her without asking. Her eyes widened, and she frantically began to apologize.

  
“S-sorry! Sorry, I-I just wanted… wanted t-to check, because, well, um…..”

  
Alphys watched Undyne stare at her with confusion and distrust, and she suddenly felt very flustered and tongue tied. Unable to look her in the eye, she reached for her arm again, but slow enough to give Undyne some warning. Undyne still didn’t let Alphys touch her, so Alphys pretended she wasn’t embarrassed by it and cleared her throat awkwardly.

  
“S-so, you, um, you just…. Th-the restraints…” Alphys spoke, scatterbrained, and Undyne stared back, clearly not understanding. Her face burning, Alphys tried again.

  
“H-How did you get out of the restraints?” She asked with a dry throat and a wavering voice.

  
“Oh!” Alphys watched the light of understanding return to Undyne’s eye. Alphys tried not to stare, but more out of curiosity and fascination than anything else “I just took them off.”

  
Alphys recalled the way the straps were ripped, but stayed quiet.

  
“What? Did you expect me to just stay there?”

  
“N-no!” Alphys replied immediately, almost frantically.

  
“You’re lucky I didn’t do anything else!” Undyne continued, glaring now at Mettaton as well.

  
“Next time you try anything like that, I’ll kick your ass- got it?!”

  
Alphys felt her hands start to tremble, and her voice failed her.

  
“Undyne!’ Papyrus suddenly scolded- a tone of voice usually directed towards his brother, so out of instinct, Sans forced himself awake again. “Stop that! Dr Alphys is the one who helped you in the first place!”

  
Undyne opened her mouth to protest, but Papyrus’s words registered, and she grew quiet again. As if she had just remembered that she had needed help at all.

  
(She had.

  
She bashfully lowered her gaze to the carpet instead, and became silent.)

  
“Apologize, Undyne!” Papyrus continued.

  
“What?!” She sputtered, shocked that Papyrus would even suggest such a thing.

  
“You should apologize to Dr Alphys- she is the one who saved you! Be nice to her.”

  
Alphys closed her eyes, willed herself not to think about the lifespan of DT within monster’s souls.

  
“...” Undyne pouted childishly, and turned to Alphys, though she didn’t look up at her when she mumbled a tiny apology. Alphys almost couldn’t believe her voice could get so quiet.

  
“I-it’s… it’s fine- I just….” She took a moment to collect her thoughts. “The restraints. You just…. Broke them?”

  
Undyne shrugged. “They weren’t very effective, if you ask me.”

  
“A-and… you wandered upstairs…”

  
Undyne nodded.

  
“... And then…. The spears?” Alphys asked nervously.

  
“She truly had intent to kill.” Mettaton supplied with dramatics. Alphys mostly ignored it- his current body was more vulnerable, yes, but it still had some defense.  
“It was _self defense_ \- Damn, you’re dramatic!”

  
Alphys nodded. “Very. B-but- I also heard MTT scream earlier, b-before I got up here… So, uh, how many times did you need to…” She paused, gathering the right words. “...Defend yourself?”

  
“Oh, that was something else.” Undyne admitted, giving a nervous laugh. Mettaton, seeming to remember the reason, suddenly placed his hand over where his soul was resting.

  
“...What happened, MTT?” Alphys asked him, wanting to hear his side of the story for this.

  
Dramatically, he waltzed over towards the overturned coffee table and held up what seemed to be some sort of makeup palette. All the products seemed to be crushed and much of the excess powder fell to the floor (Papyrus cringed- he just cleaned that floor) when Mettaton held up the two broken halves of it.  
Alphys forced herself to take a moment and remember that this, to Mettaton, was heart-wrenching and tragic, and that he put up with enough of her first-world, artificial problems to not immediately brush his to the side.

  
“....You screamed…. For the makeup palette….” Alphys said slowly, and Mettaton nodded.

  
Undyne coughed awkwardly and avoided their eyes.

  
This was proving to be more difficult than she thought.

  
“To be fair, it’s a highlighting palette. It was very expensive and limited edition.”

  
“...” Alphys took a moment to breathe before continuing. “You’re made of metal. With chrome finish.”

  
“Even the most delicious cake has to be iced, darling. That's just basic math.”

  
Alphys had to take another moment.

  
“You weren’t upset for our table…. O-or our kitchen…?” She tried, she tried very very hard.

  
“Get real, Alphys,” Mettaton said bitterly.

  
She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but she suddenly felt too frustrated to even ask.

  
“Look,” Undyne spoke up, immediately commanding attention towards herself. “I guess I messed up something, I don’t really understand much of what your guys’ problem is, but if you’re looking for another apology-”

  
“You almost burnt down our kitchen…” Alphys said, blankly.

  
“Well- maybe consider that you need to get a better one!” Undyne responded, now defensive and raising her voice (Alphys flinched a little).

  
“Y-You didn’t bother freaking out about any of the other problems…?” Alphys asked Mettaton again, returning back to the makeup palette issue. It was just so many issues facing her at once, she didn’t even know where to begin, so calmly bobbing between them seemed to be her solution.

  
“I had it under control.” Mettaton said with narrowed eyes, as if offended Alphys would suggest otherwise.

  
“.... Our kitchen almost burnt down. There was a stove fire!”

  
Mettaton scoffed, but said nothing more, and Alphys suddenly felt extremely overwhelmed, so she turned towards Undyne and forced the conversation away for a different time.

  
“H…. h-how are you feeling? I mean, besides the …. increased aggression levels.” She clarified, somewhat awkwardly towards the end. Undyne gave her a weird look.

  
“What do you mean? I feel great!”

  
“T-that's just,” Alphys frowned. How was she supposed to explain this? “That's the DT talking. It spikes up a-aggression and gives the illusion of increased endorphins….”

  
Undyne blinked at her. “Nah. I feel the same as ever.” She said, even though she hadn't understood half the sentence.

  
Alphys glanced over at the spear lodged into her wall. “That's….. a bit concerning.” She mumbled to herself.

  
“It's true, Doctor Alphys!” Papyrus defended happily, though it wasn't really an argument. “Undyne’s pretty much the same as always!"

  
The scientist frowned. They weren't making this any easier. She had seen this dozens of times over: a monster falling down, and DT only prolonging the progress under the disguise of results. She had seen it enough times that she still couldn't believe she had gone through with it again- Alphys glanced nervously at Mettaton for help, but he seemed overall at his patience’s end (though, to be fair, he had very little in the first place).

  
“Alright, well,” Mettaton sighed loudly, motors whirring, a hair flip. All the characteristics of a Drama Queen who required full attention and received it every time. “I believe that since our lovely guest has recovered quite nicely, and has definitely overstayed her welcome- it's about time she returns home.” Mettaton beamed with a Celebrity Smile that he seemed to believe negated the rudeness in his words. Alphys gave him a withering look.

  
“No, no, she can't,” Alphys told him in a tone that conveyed her social energy running low. Mettaton didn't help by childishly pouting. In an attempt to ignore it, she noticed Undyne watching her with threatening unamusement, so she rushed to explain.

  
(Though, if she was being honest, Undyne was extremely terrifying and apparently thoughtless about others’ possessions and feelings and the less she had to interact with such a threatening presence, the better.)

  
“S-she's…. well, she's kind of…. a case study now, so….”

  
“What the hell does that mean?” Undyne spoke over Alphys, drowning her sentence almost entirely in a way that she supposed was an intimidation tactic. It certainly felt that way.

  
“I j-just mean, um, well, since you've been injected with…. with the DT, we have to monitor your stats, y-you know?” Alphys managed to explain under Undyne’s intense stare. Mettaton sighed again, but Papyrus watched her like her words made sense, so she felt ok to continue.

  
“Clearly, i-it's affecting your, um….” She glanced over at the spear jammed into her wall again and searched for a proper way to say this. “.... _aggression_.”

  
“So?” Undyne shrugged, dismissively, confident and intimidating in a way Alphys could never hope to achieve. Such a simple word gave Undyne the power to stomp all over Alphy’s sentence like it was nothing at all. She felt her Soul shrink a bit.

  
“Listen, its great and all that you helped me. Really, I appreciate it. You seem like an okay person,” Alphys forced down the urge to laugh. “But, honestly, I don't really care what all your machines say. I'm fine- I'm better than I've ever been! You don't even know me- so don't tell me what my ‘ _aggression_ ’ is like, got it?!” Undyne finished, though her voice was booming at this point. It wasn't particularly threatening, more so just with uncontained excitement. Forces her soul couldn't contain properly…

  
Alphys frowned at such telling signs.

  
“Papyrus said it himself- I'm fine!”

  
Papyrus nodded happily, though Alphys wasn't sure he knew another way to do so. It was almost like the Papyrus from the night before had never existed.

  
“I know she may seem a little excited, but that's just the kind of monster she is!” He explained, and Alphys could see how they could be friends if that was the case. Not many had the energy to keep up with Papyrus- so if she did, their friendship was beginning to make better sense.

  
“I know you're worried, Doctor Alphys, but I think she's going to be okay!

  
Alphys frowned. “She almost burnt down the kitchen…”

  
“And broke our table.” Mettaton added.

  
“Oh, now you care about the table?” Alphys turned to him with impatience. Normally, she wouldn’t snap at him so harshly, but the stress of the last 24 hours was getting to both of them, and it only edged him on.

  
“Right- so _sorry_ that I have possessions that I value and hold to high importance!” He retorted, picking the fight. Undyne stopped it however, when she spoke up.

  
“ _Man_ , are you two always like this? It’s getting on my nerves-”

  
“ _Your_ nerves...?” Alphys asked her with disbelief- as if she hadn’t almost single-handedly destroyed half their home.

  
“Yes!” She answered, like she was the one with a stove fire. “You couldn’t get me to stay here if it was the last sandbar on earth. I’m outta here.”

  
“W-wait-!” Alphys pleaded, but Undyne interrupted her again almost immediately as she turned towards Mettaton.

  
“And you can keep your STUPID clothes!”

  
Not elaborating much further, she aggressively untied the robe she had awkwardly tied around her and threw it to the ground, which immediately had Alphys yelp with shock and hurry to cover her eyes, her face heating up.

  
Right. She forgot Undyne had no clothes to begin with.

  
“W-what are you _doing_ …?!” Alphys choked out, practically professionally flustered.

  
“Undyne, I told you that would make them uncomfortable.” Papyrus sighed, like telling her something as simple as telling her to retie her laces. He was seemingly unphased. “They wear clothes almost every day!” He told her, almost as if he needed to clarify it.

  
As if it was abnormal.

  
As if they didn’t wear clothes every day.

  
Alphys wasn’t sure she had ever felt as such a loss for words before.

  
“You can all wear whatever stupid, constriction cloth you want, but I’m tired of it! I’m not like _you_ people!!” Undyne defended, despite being the exact same race.

  
“For goodness sake,” Mettaton spat out, mostly annoyed but by the sound of it, probably almost as uncomfortable as Alphys (she had to assume, too, that he was shielding his vision as well, because she couldn’t risk opening her eyes to check). “Put it back on!”

  
“No- Why should I?!”

  
“I told you already earlier- its _indecent_!!”

  
“I don’t even know what that means, okay?!”

  
“she really doesnt.” Sans added lazily.

  
“T-this is getting ridiculous….” Alphys mumbled to herself, losing patience. Peeking out carefully, she plucked the robe off the floor, and handed it towards Undyne’s direction, but faced away with embarrassment (how did this girl just not _care_?!).

  
“J-just- put this back on, and…. And we’re going to h-have you stay here because you’re a case study now…” Alphys tried to say with confidence, but failed halfway through. Common occurrence.

  
“It's just for a few days…. M-maybe a few weeks maximum.”

  
“ _Weeks_?” Undyne and Mettaton repeated with exasperation.

  
“Undyne, you really should listen to Dr Alphys , she’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met!” Papyrus spoke up, trying to persuade her through positivity. “It’s okay to stay with her for a while- Sans and I live really close, I can come by and see you everyday!”

  
“I don’t care.” Undyne grumbled, crossing her arms. “It was nice of you to help me, but I’m not sticking around with some surface people I just met. I’ve always been fine on my own- and that won’t change now!!” She finished aggressively, but despite this, Alphys forced herself to speak up. Even with her soul trembling.

  
“You…. you came to me, d-dying, essentially…” She told Undyne, sparing a glance at her. She tried to focus on her face rather than the fact that she was standing, naked, right before her. It was proving difficult, but she could find interest in the sharp angles and jagged mysteries of this stranger’s face.

  
“I don’t need your mercy.” Undyne responded sharply. Sharp words, sharp expression, sharp voice, sharp angles. Sharp spear embedded into her wall.  
Sharp soul. Alphys felt her own shrink in fear. Undyne was, for lack of a better term, the most terrifying monster she had ever seen. Not because of her features, but through the way she carried herself. Confident, intimidating, and thunderous- all things that simultaneously terrified and engaged Alphys.

  
She wasn’t sure how it happened, because she told herself to turn away and give up, but Alphys found a response tumbling from her trembling voice:  
“Then…. I-I’m not giving you any.” She started strongly enough, but it didn’t last long. “You have t-to stay here, or…..”

  
Her sentence trailed off into a halt.

  
Or...?

  
“Or else what?” Undyne’s eye narrowed at her, and she crossed her arms. Alphys wanted to disappear under such an intense glare.

  
What could she really say?

  
_‘Or else you’ll probably die and I’ll lose a chance to try to fix this and prove I’m not entirely worthless.’_

  
“No ‘or else’s.” Alphys corrected after a pause. She draped the robe over Undyne’s front, so it would be a bit easier to speak to her. Her face was still colored with embarrassment and her Soul still vibrated with fear, she was sure the other could tell, but she forced herself to finish.

  
“You’re….. You’re staying here. As a case study. F-for however long I need you to. I…. I saved you.” She lied, but with confidence. “I clearly know what’s g-going on, so.... So just listen to me. No arguments.”

  
Undyne’s expression quickly became one of disbelief, of protest, but when she opened her mouth, she couldn’t seem to find a response. Alphys couldn’t blame her- she was just as shocked, and she watched Undyne with just as much disbelief. She didn’t have to turn to see the surprise littered upon her friends’ faces.

  
Silence ensued, loudly grated against Alphys’s eardrums, and she was worried Undyne would strike her at any given moment. Large gaps of time filled the few seconds that passed.

  
But after they had, Undyne narrowed her eye at Alphys, but roughly ripped off the rope hastily draped upon her, and slipped it back on, closing it with the tie around her waist.

  
Alphys let out a breath of relief.

  
Sparing a glance at Undyne, she could see faint respect blooming in the eye that watched her back.

  
Part of her wished it wasn’t there.

 

\---

  
Thus, began the unpredictable, disorderly, chaotic transition to Undyne’s temporary residence with Alphys and Mettaton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was also wondering if anyone would be interested in me writing little oneshots under this AU? (it would be separate from the fic). i have ideas that don't exactly fit the plotline, but idk........................................


	5. Unnecessary Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [undyne](https://drive.google.com/file/d/13NTfp079O1ZX3d4LZKNf7LaXVt8ArDXk/view?usp=sharing) throughout the entire chapter basically

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> undertale for nintendo switch????????? MOTI uploading new ut content??????? me updating this dang fic???? cant believe ut is thriving in 2018 hkshkfs  
> this ch is 80% shitposting that [burnettebetty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burnettebetty)encouraged so thank u ,, also undyne for smash 2k18 lets make it happen
> 
> (on a real note thanks so much to everyone leaving kudos and such nice comments omgomg thanks for taking the time to read my bs,, this chapter is so long but hopefully it counteracts my long absences djskfkdsn okok here we go i hope its not too sappy!)

“First things first,” Alphys sighed, turning to Undyne with an uneasy expression.

“We need t-to, um…. g… get you cleaned up….”

Undyne looked at her with confusion, tilted her head a bit to the side.

“What do you mean….?”

“Well, um,” Alphys struggled to phrase the sentence in a way that wouldn't be creepy, even though she knew Undyne probably wouldn't even think twice of it.

“Y-you're….. we need to make sure the wound has closed up properly, you know? A-and… well…. you're covered in salt and sand…”

Undyne blinked, unimpressed.

“I fail to see your point.”

“A-anyone want to help Undyne?” Alphys asked instead, directing her attention towards the rest of the individuals starting to clean up broken pieces of plastic, glass, and littered objects scattered around.

“Not it.” Mettaton replied immediately, without shame, as he stepped between the broken glass of the coffee table and picked up some misplaced Neko Girl figurine.

“Shouldn’t you be the one to help her, Doctor Alphys?” Papyrus asked with genuinity, already starting to rearrange furniture and beginning to clean up (again, though he seemed to have no complaints about it).

“M-me?” Alphys replied with wide eyes, definitely not wanting to be in charge of Undyne.

“Yes!” Papyrus encouraged. “You’re the doctor! You would know the best way to disinfect and redress the wounds!”

Alphys frowned. He wasn’t wrong. Although she wasn’t that type of doctor, she had provided all medical care needed thus far. Plus, she knew exactly how to disinfect and clean any wounds Undyne still may have, so she had no real argument against it.

She spared a glance at Undyne, who was scratching at the unfamiliar fabric of the robe.

“I……” Alphys already felt her face heat up with embarrassment. “I-I guess that’s true, but….”

She looked helplessly at Sans and Mettaton, hoping one of them may save her from the situation.

They didn’t.

Alphys sighed heavily, already dreading this.

“C-Come on, Undyne,” She mumbled, hoping it wasn’t too demanding and that it wouldn’t trigger any DT aggression (or, if she was listening to Papyrus’s claims, normal aggression).

\---

“I still don’t get it.”

Alphys sighed again, starting to become a little stressed out.

“Its…. It’s a shower- you use it to clean up.”

“Why’s the water different?”

“Its…. not ocean water.”

Undyne frowned again, reaching out and letting her hand feel the odd water flowing from the faucet. It was wrong. Its texture, its temperature,  the way it slipped through her fingers and splashed and would glide around her skin was _wrong_. She grimaced now.

“What’s _…._ wrong with it?”

Alphys gave her a weird look, as if it was an odd question. How could she not see something was clearly off?

“N…. nothing….? It’s just…. not ocean water.”

“Then what _is_ it?”

Alphys frowned, which in turn caused Undyne to frown as well.

“It’s …… c-cleaner?”

That was the wrong choice- Undyne immediately scoffed.

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?!”

“I j-just- I just meant that- you know!” Alphys hurried to explain, tripping over her own words.

She didn’t know.

“It’s…. it’s clean!” She repeated again, making a gesture with her arms that didn’t explain much.

Undyne crossed her own arms, not moving a muscle. After a few short seconds of a minuscule stand-off, Alphys sighed tiredly and broke off eye contact.

“It’s…. it’s fine, really. Just…. s-step into the shower, please?”

“I don’t like it.” Undyne said with almost childish stubbornness. One that she could tell was annoying Alphys by the way the other monster closed her eyes and let out another heavy sigh. “I don’t like how it feels against my skin. I don’t want it touching me.”

“Listen….. we…. we need to get you c-cleaned up…” As she trailed off, she held up her hands in defense and interrupted Undyne’s next sentence. “N-not that I’m commenting on you _personally_ \- it’s just, t-there’s blood and salt all over you! We have to uh, g-get rid of it… We don’t want a-anything to get infected....”  She rushed to explain, and Undyne took mental note of how often her words faltered under pressure.

Still, Papyrus’s voice echoed and grated against her ears, reminding her to _‘not give Doctor Alphys a hard time!_ ’

Silence padded with the sound of water splashing down into the tub filled the room, and, after a large feat of forcing down her own pride, Undyne took a step into the tub.

It was almost worth it when she saw how Alphys’s eyes practically lit up at her cooperation. She wasn’t sure why that was.

“O-okay, um,” Alphys fumbled with some bottles in her arms. “T… the robe…. you can, um….”

Undyne felt some odd emotion overcome her when she watched Alphys turn red and look away from her. Her words seemed to get caught in her throat, but after some deciphering of jerky gestures, Undyne realized Alphys was asking her to remove the uncomfortable robe that obnoxious, metallic monster gave her earlier.

“Oh, _finally_ , something good about this damn thing,” Undyne breathed out in a huff, not waiting for Alphys to ask twice before ripping it off and tossing it onto the bathroom floor.

“R-right…” Alphys stuttered with no meaning, and the placed the weird bottles with the brightly colored liquid onto the side of the tub (clumsily, which made Undyne feel a bit exasperated to watch). Purposely avoiding looking at Undyne (which was a bit rude in her book- what was everyone’s deal?!), she reached over and twisted one of the complicated looking dials near the front of the tub.

Scorching hot water came raining down on Undyne’s skin, and she screeched and pushed Alphys’s out of her way as she scrambled out of the tub.

“W-wait- s-stop!!” Alphys begged, but Undyne was stronger, and pushing the scientist out of the way was a simple task.

“You stop!! What the _hell_ was that?!” Undyne, splashing water all over the bathroom floor (and robe), replied with the ghosting remembrance of burning water splashing against her sensitive skin.

“It’s just water!!” Alphys said with frustration. “Sorry-I d-didn’t think you’d be _scared_ of-“

“I wasn’t scared!” Undyne defended quickly, her voice raising easily above Alphys’s. “It _burned_! Why was it so hot- why did you burn me!?”

“I d-didn’t!” Alphys quickly replied, Undyne could see the slight cracks of fear poking through the facade she was putting up around her. “It-it was an accident! I swear! I’m sorry!”

Undyne scowled, rubbing her arms quickly to try to rid herself of the lingering feeling of heat, and trying very, _very_ hard to not let the weird, foreign emotion she kept feeling around this monster get the better of her.

“I don’t like heat.” The fish said after a few moments of quiet, an attempt to explain, and Alphys blinked at her.

“W… what?”

“The heat,” Undyne mumbled again, rubbing her arms to soothe the pain as she stared at the puddles of water on the tiles  she caused. “I don’t like it. Is there colder water…?”

But instead of answering her question, Alphys curiously followed up with: “b...but… isn’t the ocean…. warmer water?”

But it felt….. condescending. There was no way such a weak, small creature could be any form of condescending, Undyne thought, and yet… the way Alphys had said it rubbed her the wrong way.

Like she was speaking at her, and not _to_ her.

Agitated, Undyne repeated: “Is there colder water?!” Instead, and she tried not to feel guilty when Alphys flinched and hurried to fix the water.

“T-there, that should fix it….” She said, testing the water with her hands before nodding. Ice cold. Cautiously, Undyne stepped back into the tub and let the flimsy, cool, unnatural water glide across her.

She tried not to let Alphys notice how nice it felt after a while.

“Uh, h-here,” Alphys cleared her throat, handing her a weird, bright blue object.

“That’s, uh….. not mine.” Undyne clarified, and Alphys laughed a little. It surprised Undyne, but she didn’t comment.

“N-no, no it’s….. it’s a dial of soap. T-to clean…..” Alphys must’ve seen the confusion Undyne was wearing, because she sighed again and halted her explanation.

“Like this….” The smaller monster leaned over and let the soap run under the water for a few moments, and Undyne watched in amazement when Alphys got it to lather up against a small towel.

“Woah! Let me try!!” She exclaimed before she could even help herself, and practically ripped the items from Alphys’s (nervous) hands.

The scientist flinched when the soap almost immediately slipped from Undyne’s grip and clattered roughly and loudly onto the tub.

“C-careful!” She said a bit too late, and Undyne growled when Alphys couldn’t help her laughter at the clueless monster struggling several times to pick up the slippery soap off the tub floor.

“Ah- Gotcha, punk!” Undyne held the soap up triumphantly once she managed, thought it almost slipped again.

“A-anyway….. if you uh, rub it against you… I-it’ll clean you up…..?” Alphys explained, though it was clear she couldn’t believe she had to in the first place. Whatever. It wasn’t Undyne’s problem.

“That sounds weird.” The latter said with a grimace.

“Y-yeah, I kind of said it really weird…. sorry….” Alphys cringed, turning red.

“..... You sure do apologize a lot, huh?” Undyne found herself saying before she could stop herself (not that she would’ve, nothing wrong with stating an observation, right?), but it didn’t seem to help. Alphys burned even redder.

“S-sorry! I mean- uh, well…. uh…..” Alphys trailed off, trying to find another word synonymous to ‘sorry’.

“Show me how to do this?” Undyne interrupted, not wanting to hear anymore repetitive apologies.

“W-what?”

“The soap. Help me.”

Undyne felt unexplainable shame curl up inside her from the way Alphys’s eyes widened and she almost turned completely away from her. It was bad enough she was asking for _help_ , but for Alphys to have such an adverse reaction?

“N-no way! Th-thats…. I’m not-“

“ _Fine!_ ” Undyne huffed, offended though she couldn’t quite place why. “If you’re not gonna help, at least don’t stare at me like that!”

Alphys didn’t seem to have much of an answer other than an embarrassed yelp and covering her face in a nearby dry towel.

What was the big deal, anyway- Undyne grumbled to herself as she (harshly) scrubbed the way Alphys had shown her with the bath-towel. They were both monsters, weren’t they?! Why was this one monster making everything so…. weird?

Undyne brought the bar of soap towards her hair once her body was clean, but Alphys seemed to have peeked from behind her towel shield, because she hurried over.

“W-wait! No, uh, you use something else for that….” She haphazardly explained as she removed the bar of soap from Undyne’s (harsh) grip.

“What? Why?”

Alphys gave a little shrug (Undyne tried to ignore how flustered the other monster looked this close to her). “You just do….. here,” She handed Undyne one of the weird bottles from earlier. The bright pink one with florals on it.

“Y-you use this one…. it’s the same concept.”

Undyne blinked, unsure, but took the bottle anyway. It seemed to have a little cap, so she opened it, and it made a loud _clack_ that grated against Undyne’s earfin’s and made her flinch back a little.

Alphys didn’t comment, respectfully.

The strong scent of…… Undyne couldn’t even figure out what, but it burned her throat despite it being nowhere near it. Instinctively, her eye watered a little. It smelled so…… _fake._

“What the hell is this stuff?” She eventually asked, her stomach churning in disgust.

“Uh, shampoo.” Alphys said simply.

“It’s gross.” She replied just as simply.

The scientist sighed. But she said nothing else, so Undyne begrudgingly flipped the bottle over and let some of it pour into her hands.

As soon as it touched her skin, however, she made a disgusted noise and let the bottle crash to the tub floor.

“W-what are you doing….?!” Alphys exclaimed, and Undyne replied by shaking the shampoo in her hand violently off, so it spilled all over the tub floor to join the rest steadily leaving the discarded bottle. What she couldn’t get off, she tried to rub against the wall to her right.

“This stuff is so gross,” She practically whined, but Alphys reached over and pulled her hand away from the wall before she realized she had done so.

“S-sorry! Just…. don’t do that, you’re making a mess.”

“Can’t I use anything else?”

Alphys gave her another exhausting, exasperating sigh, one that made even Undyne feel worn out.

“ _Fine._ ” Undyne huffed. She went and scraped the shampoo she had brushed against the wall into her hand, then awkwardly patted it against her hair.

Alphys watched for a few moments in disbelief before managing to stop her.

“H-hey, hey…” Alphys called, placing a hand against her arm to stop her. “Just get some more from the bottle….”

“Right.” Undyne confirmed confidently, grabbing the bottle from the tub floor and pouring a large amount onto her head.

“N-not that much!” Alphys said with panic, and Undyne turned to her with frustration.  

“Listen, if you’re going to just keep telling me what to do- you might as well just do it!” Undyne retorted in exasperation, and shoved the bottle into Alphys’s hands.

\---

“W-what? No, no I-” She protested, but Undyne already grabbed Alphys’s hands and pulled them to her head, water from the showerhead spraying onto the floor.

“O-okay, okay!!” Alphys shouted, and pulled her hands away until Undyne got the idea and released them. “You’re making a mess…!”

“ _You’re_ the one making me do this!!” Undyne protested.

Alphys, flustered, turned away again. She couldn’t _believe_ she was doing this. It was so embarrassing…..

She was grateful none of the other monsters were around to see this. She wouldn’t be able to give an excuse for how red her face was and how nervous she felt around Undyne right now.

“Just…..” Alphys made a gesture. “T-turn around and sit down”

Undyne surprisingly cooperated, though the floor was entirely drenched, and Alphys made a move to turn the showerhead off now and instead keep the water flowing from the tub’s faucet.

“O-okay, I’ll show you…. B-but just this once, okay?”

Undyne didn’t seem to care, or maybe she just didn’t have a response, so Alphys took it as an okay and reached over to start lathering shampoo on Undyne’s messy hair.

Alphys herself didn’t really have much experience with hair, and if she was being honest, she felt a little envious at times of those who did. Being able to do intricate hairstyles seemed really fun, or even just having hair this soft was pleasant.

Her cheeked burned at the easily admitted thought, but it was true. Undyne’s hair was surprisingly soft, once she was able to rid it of the caked in salt, traces of seaweed, and matted in knots (which, surprisingly, wasn’t many. Anytime there were any, Undyne stopped Alphys and roughly combed it out herself with her fingers. This was also surprising; that Undyne seemed to put care into her hair even though she seemingly hadn’t learned to do so from any particular person). It was coarse, and thick, but also soft and slick, as if adapted to the water.

God, she was so _gay_ when it came to intimidating girls, and having to literally help Undyne bathe was not helping at all.

“D… Do you comb it out, o-often…?” Alphys asked awkwardly, and then mentally kicked herself for doing so. Undyne didn’t seem to care- she hummed with what was probably enjoyment.

“Yeah, sometimes, when it gets too messy. I usually tie it back with some rope, if I can find any.” Undyne replied, in a relaxed, calm tone. Alphys almost questioned if it was Undyne who even said it, because she wasn’t sure her voice could even sound calm.

“Oh.” Alphys said, dully, because she wasn’t quite sure what to say, or what she even expected, but she certainly didn’t expect the oddly calm atmosphere surrounding them.

It was …. nice. Alphys even felt calm- but it could be because it was easier to speak to Undyne when she didn’t have to acknowledge her naked ( _extremely_ fit) body.

“C-close your eyes, so when I rinse i-it out it won’t sting…”

The calm didn’t last long, though, because the shampoo rinsed down into Undyne’s eye anyway, and Alphys was once again faced with violent screeching and splashing from the fascinating monster.

\---

“That should be the last of it,” Mettaton sighed with exhaustion, gracefully flopping down onto the (now placed back upright) sofa.

“I’m, uh, still missing two beakers....” Alphys called from where she was fixing up the bookshelf.

Not moving from his place, Mettaton dramatically covered his forehead with the back of his hand and used a spare script to fan himself. Some glitter sprinkled out, but it was ignored.

“Well, guess they’re lost forever. I’m much too tired to keep cleaning up.”

Alphys turned to him with a raised eyebrow, after shoving a few papers haphazardly between two hardcover books.

“You cleaned like…. Five dishes.”

Mettaton frowned, sitting up a bit. “Oh, please, you act as if that’s all I did.”

“What else did you do?” Alphys sighed, wanting to be enlightened after such an exhausting day.

He made a vague circular gesture. “I… dictated!”

She sighed heavily, but went to join him on the sofa- instinctually, he moved his legs for her to have space as she approached it.

“You should at least thank Papyrus, you know….” She replied, reminding him who had really done most of the cleaning.

“Right,” Mettaton agreed, taking a moment to think. “He’s a fan, right? Do you think he’ll like an autograph?”

Alphys didn’t bother responding past an annoyed sigh- before suddenly springing up with surprise, causing Mettaton to blink at her with confusion.

“Where’s-”

The rest of the question was swallowed up by a large crash sounding from the kitchen, and the lingering echo of glass and plastic containers breaking and scattering across the tiles.

Rushing from the sofa, the two hurried to the kitchen, stopping with gasps at the doorway at all the water, containers, and glass jars that spilled across the floor, scattered about the food littering the kitchen tiles.

Looking up, Undyne stared back at them with a wide eye, holding the other half of the refrigerator door she had accidentally ripped off.

“We _just_ cleaned in here!” Mettaton shouted, angry, and Alphys watched Undyne’s genuine shock at the accident turn into fury at the robot’s words.

“Shut up- Papyrus did most of the cleaning in here!”

“W-what happened?” Alphys finally spoke up, a bit jarred.

“It was an accident- stop looking at me like that!!” Undyne shouted at Alphy’s direction, and out of instinct she broke eye contact and jumped a bit.

“You keep saying that,” Mettaton argued back, stepping over one of the dented soda cans. “But you’re hardly following it up with an actual apology, darling.”

“Undyne.” She corrected, and Mettaton just gave her a weird look.

“Undyne….” Alphys tried again, more hesitant this time. “What happened…?”

“I went to get some food- I saw you guys storing it in here earlier!” She explained, but mostly argued. “I just went to grab some- and the whole thing fell apart! Why do you have such a weak… uh….”

Not knowing what to call it, Undyne gestured to what remained of the fridge with her free hand.

“Fridge.” Mettaton and Alphys deadpanned.

“Yeah, that,” She said, not even bothering to attempt the new word.

“It's not weak….” Alphys frowned, approaching cautiously. “You're just….. v-very strong-!” She finished with wide eyes, finding that she couldn't lift the broken fridge door from Undyne’s hands, who seemed to be holding it with ease. Giving her a weird look, Undyne lifted it over their heads and moved to place it up against the fridge.

Alphys watched with fear and just the slightest bit amazement.

“.... Right, that reminds me,” She said after a moment, giving an awkward cough to clear her throat.

“We, uh…. we should check your stats…. Now that you’re all c-cleaned up...” She mumbled, mostly to herself, her face burning red at the memory of earlier.

 

_“Did you kids have fun?” Mettaton teased as Alphys and Undyne emerged from the bathroom- Undyne seemingly refreshed and surprisingly relaxed in the soft towel she was forced to wear and Alphys seemingly exhausted and unsurprisingly flustered._

_Alphys spared Mettaton a look, but it only made him laugh even more._

 

“I'll check up on a new refrigerator,” Mettaton sighed, swiping his laptop from where it sat on the kitchen counter nearby and retreated back to the sofa.

“Follow me,” Alphys said with hesitation- Undyne could feel the nervous nature of the scientist radiating off her in waves; it reminded her of the way prey fish would scurry about, and this confused her- but Undyne said nothing as she respectfully followed.

 

\---

Undyne understood having secrets.

Probably better than most monsters.

But she wasn't stupid. This wasn't the place Alphys had taken her the first time. This wasn't the place she remembered waking up in. This place was bright- bright walls and clean counters and comfy, plush examination beds.

Alphys mumbled to herself as she fiddled with some monitor she had hooked Undyne up to a few minutes prior, not minusing the latter’s physical protests at first.

Undyne understood having secrets, sure, but she didn’t understand hiding things from people when they knew it was a lie.

Dishonesty, while being guilty of it at times, was not something Undyne appreciated.

“So,” She began, wanting to get to the bottom of it. She watched Alphys’s face shift a bit with distaste- as if upset that she now had to supply the other end of a conversation. “We’re in here today?”

Alphys paused- Undyne saw the pen she was scribbling notes from the machine with stop- before resuming.

“W…. where else would we be…?” She eventually provided, pressing something cold and metallic to Undyne’s chest. It made her squirm uncomfortably, and she pushed it away a few times much to Alphys’s annoyance.

“I’m...I’m trying to check your breathing…” She told her, almost firmly, but not quite, not reaching Undyne’s eye with her own as she continued to press the cold object to her skin. Undyne wondered how far away this Alphys was from the one that confidently stood up to her hours ago.

“I don’t like it,” Undyne frowned, but when Alphys instructed her (in a small voice) to breath in, and out, and in, and out…. She found herself following without much thought.

Alphys gave the object a weird look after a few tries, but said nothing as she hastily scribbled something else down.

When she went to put the unfamiliar object away, Undyne protested.

“Hey- Hey, wait!” She grabbed Alphys’s arm (a bit too roughly) to stop her, and the former gasped with accustomed fear. Adjusted fear.

Learned fear.

It surprised and interested Undyne almost immediately. Alphys, as a whole, was something that was unwhelmingly amazing to Undyne, for all the wrong reasons. Alphys was small, quiet, and timid. She had almost no bite, no bark, and no poison to her.

Alphys, it seemed, was almost the epitome of prey. Yet- Alphys has clearly survived in life. She has a seemingly endless amount of intelligence- but not quite in a way Undyne had ever seen before. Not survival intelligence, but an entirely new genre altogether. Knowledge seemingly pieced together by many mistakes. Intelligence.

And yet, what about this made Undyne so impressed by her?

“W-what….?” Alphys asked with a trembling, wobbly voice. It made Undyne want to do _something_ , but she wasn’t sure what.

“You’re just gonna do stuff to me and I just have to accept it?” Undyne asked defensively, and Alphys blinked at her with apparent confusion.

“... I’m …. Only checking your stats….?”

“I don’t know that! Let me try it too- whatever you’re doing to me, I want to try it on you. So I can know you’re not doing anything harmful.”

Alphys slowly removed her arm from Undyne’s loosened grip, and gave her a weird look, but cautiously handed the weird item to her.

“....um,” Undyne coughed a bit. “How does it work?”

One by one, Alphys walked Undyne through each procedure of the physical checkup- breathing, vision, muscle check, organ check-  though it took twice as long now with Undyne making her repeat the processes on herself.

But, strangely enough, Undyne witnessed something she hadn’t thought was possible.

In asking questions, Alphys began to speak to her in full sentences. Then full paragraphs. Occasionally, some laughter.

At one point, Alphys was dancing words around Undyne’s head, and she could hardly follow, but it wasn’t needed. Alphys was having _both_ sides of the conversation.

It was incredible, to think Alphys was hidden deep beneath the trembling prey version of herself that she portrayed. _That_ Alphys reminded Undyne of a fighter- of something experienced and wise…

That Alphys was the one that impressed her.

Which made her all the more dangerous. She couldn’t allow, knowing this now, for Alphys to keep her dishonest secret she had brushed aside earlier.

“-So, this is the SOUL monitor I told you about and it’ll give us all sorts of info on your Soul like how weak or strong it is and, in this case, how its holding up with the D-”

“Hey,” Undyne eventually cut in, Alphys’s never ending sentence falling to a halt. “You never answered my question.”

“Which one…?” Alphys asked, pressing a few soft, sticky pads to Undyne’s skin. The pads connected to wires that attached to- what Alphys had told her was- The SOUL Monitor.

“Why aren’t we down in that other room?”

Alphys fell silent again, she broke eye contact and nervously fumbled with her pen again, and Undyne suddenly remembered the Alphys from minutes ago.

“...W-which room?”

“The dark one. The one we went to last time.” Undyne clarified, but Alphys didn’t even seem to be listening, because she immediately jumped in before her sentence was finished.

“That’s just the basement. It’s just for storage.”

The growing, relaxed atmosphere from moments ago had deteriorated and the uncomfortable silence returned. Undyne suddenly felt she was entering dangerous waters.

She couldn’t predict Alphys any longer, and that meant Undyne was at her mercy instead.

The very thought unsettled her to her Soul.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going t-to check your Soul now, okay?” Alphys replied instead, turning towards the machine.

“H-hey!” Undyne said, resisting the urge to rip out the sticky, weird patches stuck to her. “Don’t ignore me!!!”

Undyne watched as Alphys shrunk a bit into herself, like a hermit crab into its shell- but Undyne could spot its claws, now, so she couldn’t mess around anymore. Alphys had the potential to be dangerous.

No response, so Undyne became louder.

“I just want to know! I’m not stupid- I know there’s another place with machines and-”

“Please,” Alphys finally spoke up, and though it was hardly above a whisper, Undyne found herself immediately cut off. “P-please…. Don’t ask me about that room. Just, um…. Just…. A-act like you never saw it, okay?”

The SOUL Monitor beeped, so Alphys’s attention turned towards that for a few moments, but Undyne just watched, confused, upset….

“Why?”

Alphys paused again, so Undyne knew she heard her. Though she was facing away from her, Undyne felt Alphys’s fear, her frustration, her damage wash over her. But she couldn’t help it- she wanted to know. She _needed_ to know. There were secrets being kept, but more than that, Alphys was being dishonest now. Alphys had knowledge of something that she didn’t.

“ _Please._ ” The scientist pleaded.

The tone in her voice made Undyne’s Soul squeeze harshly, and she hoped it wasn’t broadcasted on the SOUL Monitor.

It made her do something Undyne never let happen.

She let someone else have the upper hand, and stopped asking.

The rest of the session was almost silent now, but Undyne felt an inexplicable longing for the messy, unintelligible conversation from minutes ago.

\---

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong _now_?”

“Don’t like this.”

Alphys braced herself for another round of bickering. Mettaton sat up straighter from where he was relaxed into the couch, so he could look at where Undyne sat on the floor of the living room. About 4 inches from the TV screen.

“ _Maybe_ it’s because you can’t even see it.” Mettaton supplied with malice. “In fact, none of us can!”

“Well, don’t worry.” Undyne replied, not even sensing Mettaton’s bitterness. “Ya aren’t missing much.”

Alphys sighed, and locked her phone. Mettaton and Undyne had not stopped arguing like this since Undyne arrived, and it was starting to get difficult to read the new chapter of the Mew Mew Kissy Cutie fanfic she was following. It rarely updated, but when it did, the author seemed to have chapters drag on forever.  It was some offhanded AU with too much planning and not very excellent execution, but at least it was for a ship usually pushed to the background. Which was weird, seeing as they were canon. Leave it to a fandom to have all the mlm ships bury the canon wlw ships under thousands of fanfic pages. Oh well. At least this fanfic didn’t have everyone thirsting over the skeleton magical girls. They’re good characters, Alphys agreed, but she didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. Especially when there were so many other amazing characters to also appreciate.

“Just …...change it to the nature channel….” Alphys mumbled to Mettaton. “It’ll p-probably be something she’s used to seeing.”

“No!” Mettaton replied louder, startlingly Alphys and Undyne. “Why do _I_ have to compromise?!”

“Damn, you have really bad taste-”

Mettaton raised the TV volume louder, louder, louder….

“Mettaton, stop it!!” Alphys tried to shout over the telenovela now blasting through their home.

Mettaton motioned to his artificial ears and shook his head, pretending he couldn’t hear.

“ _Mettaton_!”

Undyne instead, grimacing at the noise, began clicking at the symbols by the TV until they did something. She eventually clicked a button by the side, and it all powered off.

She grinned at Mettaton triumphantly, until he clicked the remote and it turned right back on.

Growling, Undyne pushed the same button again, but, unimpressed, Mettaton clicked the remote again.

This went on for longer than necessary, and Alphys had to end it when she ripped the remote from Mettaton’s grip with frustration.

“S-stop making me have to mother you….!” Alphys scolded.

“I don’t even know what that means!” Undyne retorted.

Mettaton tsked. “How sad.”

Undyne, in response, flipped him off, which caused both him and Alphys to gasp.

“Where did you learn _that_?!”

“N-new idea!” Alphys interrupted, not wanting this to escalate, standing up and setting up the gaming console. “If you guys want to argue that much, j-just…. At least make it friendlier.”

Alphys handed Undyne a controller, which she stared at and curiously clicked at the buttons with delight.

“.... Are you sure about this, Alphys?” Mettaton asked cautiously, as the scientist approached him with a controller for him as well as herself.

“Do you have a better idea….?” She settled back into the sofa, and he shrugged. “H-hey…”

Mettaton gave her a curious look, as she was whispering now.

“Let her win.”

Mettaton rolled his eyes, groaned and settled into the sofa as well, stretching out his legs. “Fiiiiiine.”

\---

“This is _bullshit!_ ” Undyne yelled, forcefully tossing the remote to the ground. Along with the one she had broken about 10 minutes prior.

“H-hey!” Alphys spoke up, hurrying to get the remote before Undyne could kick it or damage it any further. “You’re going to break it!”

“This game is STUPID ANYWAYS!!” Undyne shouted, punching some of the sofa pillows in anger.

Alphys watched nervously, made a mental note that Undyne shouldn’t be allowed to play Luigi Kart anymore.

“I told you to let her win……!” Alphys shout-whispered at Mettaton, who watched Undyne tear apart their sofa cushions with a nervous expression.

“I tried!! I can’t control what the CPUs do!! It was 20 minutes long- they’re bound to pass her eventually, and I can’t wait here all night for her to finish one lap!”

Undyne started on the next pillow, so Alphys hurried over to try to calm her.

“U-Undyne! Undyne!” She pleaded. “Let’s try something else, o-okay?”

Undyne chucked the pillow towards a bookshelf, then crossed her arms and pouted. “Don’t want to. It’s stupid- this is all so stupid!!”

“You’re just bad at the game, darling. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Shut up!” Undyne stomped over to Mettaton. “Rematch!!’

Mettaton yawned, smirking a bit. “No thanks. I’m done having to waste time waiting for you to finish a lap.”

Undyne growled. “Another game!!”

Thus, much to Alphys’s hesitation, Super Smash Sisters was loaded up.

\---

“HELL YEAH!” Undyne cheered, as her character threw Mettaton’s off the screen for the 14th time in a row, causing her to win another match. Mettaton made a few agitated beeping noises, to which Alphys couldn’t help but laugh at with Undyne.

“Undyne for Smash.” Alphys commented, mostly to herself.

“Where are you going?” Undyne called out to Mettaton, who had placed the remote down and was getting up to leave.

“I’m done.”

“Aw, come on!” Undyne called. “One more?”

Mettaton stared at her for a moment, and after pausing, he returned with a dramatic sigh.

“Fine. But I get to pick the stage.

“Ugh, fine.”

Alphys smiled as she noticed Mettaton’s slight one when he nudged Undyne good-naturedly.

“‘Boxing Ring’?”

“Ugh, _fine._ ”

Alphys wondered if Mettaton would ever tell Undyne, but she looked like she was having fun winning, so she hoped not.

\---

“What about this?” Alphys frowned, handing Undyne a package of crackers. Saltines. No weird flavors, nothing abnormal. “They’re easy on the stomach. A-anyone can eat them.”

Undyne curiously took the package, held it in her hand for a moment, then shook her head and handed it back to her. Many of the crackers were crushed now.

Alphys groaned in frustration, returning back to the pantry.

As if watching for her wasn’t hard enough, Alphys was quickly learning Undyne was a picky eater.

“W-Well, what do you usually eat?”

Undyne shrugged, thinking about it. “I don’t know. Whatever’s around. I really like seagrass, but you can’t be too picky out there, ya know?”

‘ _But you can be over here?’_ Alphys was tempted to retort, but decided against it. Instead, she decided to take a more academic approach to it.

Try to find correlations between the foods Undyne was denying, to eliminate down to a possible type of food.

Crackers seemed to be a no. So did soda, ice cream, extremely unhealthy chips, pudding, condiments, and pretty much anything that was in their fridge. She also denied cereal and milk, frozen ice pops, any tiny semblance of vegetables they may have (this was also a small reminder to Alphys to probably start eating better), unhealthy granola bars, and, surprisingly, leftover sushi from yesterday.

Placing the container of slightly crushed crackers back in the pantry, Alphys instead grabbed a microwaveable ramen noodles cup. It had a little sticker logo from the nearby Monster Mart. Mettaton was on it- he was something of a celebrity-name in Monster homes- so Alphys tore away the MTT-Brand glitter packet included and placed it with the others. In the trash.

From her seat perched up on the kitchen counter, Undyne perked up.

“What is that?”

“Food,” Alphys answered unhelpfully as she prepped it to cook in the microwave. “It’s, uh, noodles. I-I’m gonna make them for myself while we figure out what to do for you…. I’m kind of hungry, s-sorry.” She admitted bashfully as she closed the microwave door and set a timer.

“Woah!!” Undyne exclaimed with childish innocence as the microwave lit up and began to slowly rotate the cup. She sprung over to get a closer look, pressing her face to the warm screen.

Alphys felt maybe she should tell her not to, but instead she just watched her with a confused frown. Why was she so picky, despite not having that choice for most of her life? And what was the correlation between the food she was refusing?

Was it all the unfamiliarity of processed food?

“C-careful,” Alphys ended up interrupting her analysis to warn her anyway. “The screen gets hot sometimes.”

So what was it? What possible correlation could there be between sushi, vegetables, condiments, and ice pops?

Undyne gave a small shriek when the microwave beeped, and Alphys forcefully stopped her from striking it and breaking _yet another_ item.

“H-hey, hey!” Alphys called out, trying to protect her microwave (and, more importantly, her cup of noodles). “It’s okay! T-that just means it’s ready….!” She explained, opening the microwave to show Undyne the steaming cup of a good portion of Alphys’s diet.

“See…? Done cooking. S-so, uh, we leave it in for a while…. so it can cool down-”

“What?! No way!!” Undyne shook her head, and Alphys yelped as Undyne reached in and grabbed the steaming cup. Undyne flinched a bit under the heat, and Alphys coached her to run her fingertips under cold water afterwards.

“I told you,” Alphys sighed. “I-it’s still too hot.”

“But then it’ll get all gross and cold and _weird.”_ Undyne complained.

The scientist paused. Took a moment to think. Gross, cold……

“Can I try some?” Undyne asked, excitedly. Hungrily.

Alphys gave a small nod, and handed her a fork. Undyne was still pretty bad at using it, but Alphys took about two hours of her life yesterday teaching her how.

Undyne gave the fork a look, before looking back up at Alphys with a pleading expression.

“..... What’s wrong?”

Undyne’s vision flicked from Alphys, to the fork, then back to Alphys.

After realizing the implication, Alphys felt her face heat up with embarrassment. “W-what? No way- I-I taught you yesterday….!”

“Yeah, but Mettaton told me if I asked nicely enough you would just do it for me!” Undyne replied honestly.

“I c-can’t feed you forever….!” Alphys felt her stutter kick up, but she tried to ignore it. “Plus- I thought you’d be t-too…. Too independent, t-to rely on someone….”

Undyne shrugged. “I can do it. It’s just nice when you do it.”

That didn’t help at all. Alphys felt all the heat in her body rush to her face, she wanted to crawl up and hide in her own lab coat.

“F-fine,” Alphys felt herself agree, although she wasn’t sure why or what came about her to do so.

Nervously, she twirled some of the steaming noodles around a fork and fed it to Undyne, so was eagerly awaiting.

She waited for Undyne to have an adverse reaction to the intense heat, but instead, the monster made a happy hum that made Alphys feel ….creepy for some reason, and closed her eye in delight.

“Wow!! This stuff is so good!” Undyne exclaimed excitedly. Alphys couldn’t help but laugh just a little.

“It’s just i-instant noodles…..”

Undyne opened her mouth again for Alphys to feed her another bite, to which Alphys hesitantly did and thanked whoever was out there that Mettaton wasn’t home to see this.

“Yeah, but,” Undyne spoke between her chewing, which wasn’t surprising at all to Alphys. “It’s so _warm_ and nice! I love when food is hot!!”

Alphys gave her a weird look, and fed her another bite before even being prompted to. It wasn’t until halfway through the next bite that it processed fully.

Hot food.

Alphys looked down at the noodles, still happily steaming.

The correlation suddenly made sense. Undyne refused all the other food because it was cold to the touch.

Undyne liked _hot food_.

“You- you like hot food!” Alphys suddenly exclaimed, somewhat excitedly, and Undyne gave her an unsure look.

“Y…. yeah, I guess?”

Alphys gave a relieved laugh. “Hot food! That-that makes so much sense now!!” She continued excitedly, making a mental note to jot that down as she fed Undyne another bite.

\---

Really, in retrospect, Alphys and Mettaton should’ve come to the conclusion that leaving Undyne alone at the house for any period of time was a terrible, terrible idea.

But what could they do? Mettaton had an audition (monsters featured on a human-owned channel was impossible, but if any monster was going to break the mold, Mettaton was definitely going to try), and Alphys needed to run some errands and pass by the aquarium on the way back- and there was no way she could trust Undyne outside yet.

So that meant they had to choose the lesser of two evils.

So, as Undyne liked to see it, this was her opportunity to show that she was capable and responsible.

Which she was. Duh.

_“A-are you sure about this?” Alphys nervously chattered (mostly to herself) as she paced the living room floor. Undyne huffed and sunk lower into the comfiness of the well-worn sofa._

_“Are_ you _sure about this?” She replied instead._

_“No.” Alphys answered, and Undyne at least admired her honesty._

_“I’m afraid there isn’t much of a choice, sadly.” Mettaton said towards the tiny object in his hand Undyne had learned yesterday was a small mirror. She also learned that a mirror was just an object that copied others. She figured Mettaton probably talked to it a lot, seeing as he seemed to really like things that looked like himself. It made sense to all the posters of himself on the walls._

_“But we should probably go over the rules again.” He continued, snapping the tiny mirror shut and turning towards Undyne, who disliked the snapping sound and growled to show it._

It wasn’t that Undyne tried to forget the rules, honest.

It’s that she didn’t really bother to remember the words that came from Mettaton’s mouth. Besides, they seemed obvious enough.

Undyne gave a loud, dramatic sigh towards the empty (except for herself, of course) house, and she could’ve sworn she heard it sigh back.

…

No, that wasn’t a sigh. What was that….?

It sounded faint, airy, and almost ...imaginary.

Undyne sat up from her position of being starfished against the cool, smooth floor, her face squishing together in a childish expression of confused curiosity.

“What the hell…?” She mumbled.

Alphys showed her a list of weird sounds that she needed to remember weren’t threatening that she might hear while in the house: the jingling of keys by the doorway, the cars rushing by their house’s street, leaf blowers, construction.

She waited for the house to grow quiet.

Then, Undyne made a trill, a clicking noise, one that sounded terrible out of water but familiar inside, and waited.

As soon as she heard the warbled bark in response, she sprinted.

Down the hall, tripping down the stairs, and bumping into the door with a warning sign scribbled onto it.

Undyne knew what this door was.

Alphys didn’t show her- and Alphys didn’t need to. This was the door that held that mysterious room.

“ _Please don’t ask me about that room…._ ”

Undyne frowned at the old, banged up and yet sturdy, door.

“ _Act like you never saw it._ ”

Cautiously, she stepped forward and pressed her earfin to the surface of the door.

She strained  to hear, but the room didn’t sound very empty. It didn’t _feel_ very empty. Her escape from it a few days prior was fast- she hadn’t taken the time to explore the dark corners of the room or the way it chilled her to her Soul or take more than a moment to figure out the figures that may have been at her peripherals…

She closed her eye, waited. Waited…..

And flinched when she heard some scratching. Scratching, and clicking, and faint barking. Faint breathing.

Faint whining.

Hesitantly, she let her hand touch the doorknob.

Undyne suddenly felt that chilly feeling again, and it was overwhelming almost. Like she couldn’t breathe. Like she couldn’t think. Like-

_Ding-dong!_

Undyne jumped back from the door, instead racing up the stairs and not looking back.

She wasn’t supposed to be there.

She banged herself up against a wall, but scrambled up and ignored the pain growing on her side as she leaped back onto the sofa and tried to look casual.

She waited. Tried to catch her breathing. Not from running- but from the heavy, draining feeling she felt standing by the downstairs door.

The front doorbell rang again, and Undyne gave it a curious look. No one was coming in- not Alphys, and not Mettaton.

Slowly leaving the safety of the sofa, she took cautious steps towards the front door. She could hear faint chattering, of voices weird and unfamiliar. High pitched. Almost immediately embedding into her brain.

Despite her better judgment, she found herself opening the door (though she did have a spear in her other hand at the ready).

Before her stood four little monsters she had never seen- dressed up in purples and pinks and decorated in soft ribbons and bows and with multiple arms.

“Who are you?” Undyne threatened, narrowing her eye and gripping onto the blue spear.

“Uhuhuhuhu, don’t be shy, dearie!” The largest one (who was still pretty small) coaxed one of the smaller ones forward.

The small monster stepped forward, her fluffy skirts bouncing with her as she held up a box with foreign writing all over it.

“Hello…!” She greeted, a voice so high it almost strained Undyne to hear.

“We’re raising money for spiders through baked goods!” Another one spoke up, equally as pitched and masterfully motioning to their items with practiced ease. It almost made Undyne wonder why the largest one had to coax the little ones at all.

“..... What?” She questioned, because, really, none of those words made much sense to her.

“We have cookies, cupcakes,  candy, pastries!” One excitedly chattered, the smallest one, that the largest one was carrying in two of her many limbs.

“A bunch of flavors, too! Strawberry, mint, chocolate, caramel-“

Undyne felt her mind starting to spin.

“All the prices are reasonable!” The largest one insisted.

“What’s your name, dearie?”

“Undyne.” Undyne replied blankly, almost as if it was passively forced out of her.

“Oh, what a lovely, delicious name!” The Spider chittered happily, and Undyne found herself nodding blankly. The spiders’ eyes were… oddly distracting. She found herself staring into them deeply, and they spiraled almost.

The smallest one jumped from the largest one’s arms, hopped to the floor and pulled on the shirt Alphys forced Undyne to wear.

“Miss Undyne, is this Mettaton’s House? You must be really rich!” He squeaked, and it didn’t make much sense, but Undyne dumbly nodded again. She wasn’t sure how, or  why he knew that.

“Alphys too….” She felt herself supply,  despite herself, though she immediately felt in her Soul that giving this information was a mistake.

“Oh, I’m sure they are would loooove some sweets, right Miss Muffet?” The one to the right of the largest one (presumably Muffet) perked up.

“Uhuhuhu- I agree!” Muffet clapped two of her many hands together.

“Sweets?” Undyne asked, and she felt herself take a step out of the doorway, out of the house, and towards the friendly spiders.

All four of them grinned at Undyne.

—-

“Stop worrying so much.” Mettaton coached from the driver's seat as he turned into their block. His audition had ended early, and Alphys was regretting getting a ride home from him. He seemed to be bitter about whatever the outcome had been (oddly enough, he didn’t mention it), and his driving wasn’t the most safe.

“How can I not…?” Alphys mumbled as she gripped the seat and hoped Mettaton wouldn’t crash into their mailbox as he turned into their driveway.

“Listen- She’s a danger inside, She’s a danger outside.” Mettaton said bitterly as he shut the car off.

“You picked the lesser of two evils. It’ll still be bad- so stop waste your time worrying _if_ something happened when it already did.”

Alphys frowned. “Thanks for the encouragement.”

“What? Do you want me to lie to you?”

“D… don’t you have any faith in her?”

Mettaton swiped the keys from ignition, gave Alphys a deadpan look, and stepped out of the car. With a sigh, Alphys followed.

Unlocking the door, Alphys paused before opening it.

“Ready?” She mumbled, but mostly to herself, though Mettaton still took the time to answer.

“Let’s see how bad the damage is.”

But as soon as Alphys tried to open the door, it felt jammed. It opened a tiny crack, and immediately hit what sounded like ……

Cardboard?

“U-Undyne?” Alphys called out into the house with worry, and Mettaton helped her push against the door until it finally opened.

Boxes. Easily hundreds. Pink and purple and green and…..

Spiders.

“W-what _is_ this…?!” Alphys gasped as Mettaton unashamedly gawked at the way their home was now overrun by what seemed to be boxes of spider themed sweets.

“Oh, hey!” Undyne called from her seat on top of a particularly large box. Large enough for her sit on top of and possibly for someone else too as well.

“Spiders….” Mettaton mumbled as he slowly picked up a box of Spider Thin Mints. The box wiggled a little, so he immediately let it drop to the floor again.

“Undyne, w-what is this?! What happened….?!” Alphys said exasperatedly (which was starting to become the norm around here for Undyne).

“Sweets!” Undyne said triumphantly, raising her arms up and knocking down the open package of donuts onto the floor. “Not really my cup of tea, but I got a couple boxes for you guys just in case.”

“A couple?!”

“Well I don’t know how much you guys ate!!” Undyne defended, flailing her arms up in exasperation and knocking down a few boxes stacked by her.

“And you bought,” Mettaton took a moment, punctuated by Alphys realizing what brand this was with a soft gasp as she picked up a box of spider croissants. “My _competitors_ brand?”

“I don’t even know what that means.” Undyne replied, unimpressed, because she really didn’t.

“H-how did you even buy all these?!” Alphys finally spoke, turning to Undyne with wide eyes.

“How did I what?” The other replied.

“This is hopeless.” Mettaton groaned, kicking a box.

“How did you pay for…. All of this?” Alphys repeated.

Undyne blinked at her, but said nothing, clearly confused.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Mettaton announced as he sunk to the floor, swiping a few boxes to the floor. “I can never show my face again.”

Alphys ignored it as best as she could, closed her eyes, and opened them again after a few moments. She spoke slower, trying to find some way to explain it to Undyne:

“How….... what did you, uh, trade in to get these in return….?”

“Ohhhh,” Undyne’s eye lit up with understanding. With a grin, she picked up two credit cards laying next to her seat on a large box of spider candy.

Alphys’s Soul squeezed in horror, and she could somewhat Mettaton’s gasp from behind her over the sound of her own heavy pulse in her ears.

“These little things did the trick!” Undyne announced, practically beamed, as if she had just found the solution to everything.

She hadn’t.

“Oh my god.” Alphys said blankly as she shakily took the credit cards from Undyne, Mettaton practically tripping over himself to swipe his own from  her.

“You used _our_ money?!” Mettaton practically screeched, but Undyne didn’t look too phased, and scoffed.

Alphys felt her head scramble. She was staring at her card, but it was moving too much in her trembling hands to really focus her vision on it.

“No,” Undyne shook her head, as if she was speaking to someone stupid. “I used your cards!”

Alphys, speechless, stared at the hundreds of boxes that had just been charged to their accounts.

“T-the money,” Alphys started slowly, quietly before raising her voice as she faced Undyne with an upset expression. “Was _ON_ the cards!”

“Oh.” Undyne shrugged. “So?”

“You just- you just spent _our money_ on all these useless things!!” Alphys shouted, louder this time, which was probably surprising but she couldn’t bring herself to care too much at the moment. “W-we can’t get that back!”

Undyne huffed. “Stop yelling at me- I don’t even know what I did wrong!!”

“You can’t use other people’s money without their permission!!” Mettaton’s motors whirred with his anger spiking. “That’s _illegal_!”

Undyne’s eyes widened at the familiar word. She hadn’t heard it in awhile- but Papyrus explained it to her once. The difference between legal and illegal things. What doing something illegal meant. What the consequences where.

“Well- well how was I supposed to know that?!” Undyne’s voice raised, and Alphys could hear the panic seeping into it. The adrenaline. The possible DT spike.

“E-everyone just- just calm down…!” Alphys interrupted, moving to stand between the two as Mettaton took a step forward, possibly to start an argument.

“Undyne’s right…. S-she didn’t know, and yeah, she, uh, messed up pretty badly, but…..”

Alphys fell silent. Undyne messed up. Probably racked up both their credits.

She wasn’t really sure where she was going with that.

Undyne waited, the scientist assumed, for one of them to scold her again, and Alphys was surprised to see a semblance of what seemed like guilt blooming on her features.

“.... How much was all this?”

Undyne shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”

Mettaton glared, but Undyne spoke up again, much to their surprise.

“BUT- I have an idea!” She defended, looking a bit less defeated now, as if the idea had just come to her.

Alphys grimaced.

“Oh, this’ll be rich.” Mettaton groaned, flicking his hair out of his eyes sassily.

“Hear me out- if this is your competitor, then why not just beat them at their own game!” Undyne said proudly. “You can just make it look like MTT brand things, right? Pour a bunch of glitter on it!” She exclaimed excitedly, miming a pouring gesture with her hands. Then an exploding one. Neither of them felt energized enough to question it. “Boom! Then you can get money back!”

Mettaton nodded, listening, and looked impressed.

“Wow- That’s not half bad!” He complimented, and picked up the box of spider eclairs, examined them, and nodded again. “There’s just one problem…”

“What?”

Mettaton’s expression turned bitter again. “They’re all _SPIDER SHAPED!_ ”

Angrily, he forcefully threw the box at Undyne, who yelped once it struck her. After a pause, Alphys watching with a horrified look, and Undyne slowly turning to face Mettaton again, the robot realized it wasn’t the wisest choice.

Undyne lunged at him, yelling and bearing a bright blue spear.

\---

“Ew.” Mettaton grimaced. Or, Alphys at least imagined he would be.

He couldn’t really emote too much in his rectangular body.

“You don’t mean that.” Alphys sighed, setting up Mettaton’s EX body to the workbench so she could start repairs soon.

“No, I really do.” Mettaton said hopelessly as he stared at himself in the mirror. Back to this old body. Clunky and square and _a wheel instead of legs_.

“You liked that body at one point.” She reminded him, searching for the first aid kit amongst the mess.

“.... It was….. revolutionary for its time…” His voice warbled more in this body. Mettaton tried to pout. Instead, his body beeped a few times and his light plates scrambled in colors of yellow and red. He recalled Undyne practically crying with laughter when she saw his old form a few minutes earlier.

Part of him wanted to stop looking at himself, but part of him was scared he didn’t remember how to move without his legs.

“You know,” Undyne said from where she sat on Alphys’s desk with an ice pack to her jaw. Eating a nuked strawberry poptart that was visibly steaming with every bite she took. “You kind of look like this thing.” She held up the partially eaten poptart up to compare. A few crumbs fell to the floor.

Mettaton’s body beeped angrily, his lights going red.

“This is your fault!!” He reminded as her as he quickly wheeled over to her, pointing an accusing finger at her.

“Me?! You were the one that hit me!!” Undyne shouted back, still enjoying her burnt poptart.

“H-hey! Hey!” Alphys called, trying to calm down any arguments before it started. “T-technically, this is… both of your faults.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if-”

“MTT,” Alphys pleaded. “It’s just until I can fix the damage.”

“How long will _that_ take?!”

“J-just a while!”

“This is _your fault!”_ Mettaton whirled around to Undyne again, who returned the glare. Before she could reply, Mettaton turned and wheeled out of the room. He paused at the stairs that lead to the rooms, hesitating for a moment, before sighing with a motorized growl and hopping each of the steps, chittering in angry beeps as Alphys cringed and hoped the stairs wouldn’t crack under Mettaton’s weight.

The room grew heavy with awkward silence after his absence, and Alphys tried not to pay attention to it as she sought out the first aid kit to try to patch up Undyne a bit.

“Man, he sure is sensitive,” Undyne commented, munching on another bite of her strawberry poptart. “He always like that?”

Alphys frowned, laid the first aid kit in next to Undyne, and shrugged her question off.

“.....” Undyne sighed, seemed to hesitate, before speaking up again after Alphys was finished checking if her jaw was dislocated. Mettaton kicked it pretty roughly, right after Undyne gave his torso a swift punch. It damaged the metal, as well as shattered some of the bones in Undyne’s fingers. “Hey, I didn’t…… I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Alphys looked unimpressed as she glanced up from examining the fingers that were already healing themselves via DT.

“I mean- the Spider Sweets!” Undyne defended.

Alphys sighed, disinfected a cut on Undyne’s cheek, who winced a bit.

“It’s…. k-kind of my fault. I should’ve…. I should’ve warned you about money and spending… it is Spider Season.”

“No, no,” Undyne interrupted. “I mean…… I wanted to, uh….” She suddenly stopped. Tangled her fingers together despite them not being fully healed and somewhat bandaged. She avoided eye contact, and Alphys couldn’t help but be interested.

“.... wanted to…..?” She asked quietly, encouraging her to speak up.

“Wanted to…… do something nice.” She eventually mumbled as she fumbled with the bandages. “You guys could’ve…… you didn’t have to……” Undyne fell silent, obviously struggling to explain herself.

Alphys felt shocked. Then, a bit guilty. Undyne was a little rough around the edges, but anything she had done was done with underlying good intentions. She was curious about the new people and new world around her- and what did she do to help? Reprimand her?

“O-oh.” She found herself saying, her Soul squeezing with emotion. Undyne didn’t look up. Squeezed her hand into a fist and then released it. Sighed.

“H-hey….” Alphys eventually spoke up again, and Undyne finally met her eyes again. Alphys felt her Soul squeeze again at the genuine guilt staring back at her with one eye. Undyne liked to pretend she was impermeable, but Alphys was learning she wore her emotions blatantly on her face.

“Papyrus always told me how his friends are so nice!” Undyne continued, flustered but still loud and passionate as she explained. “And …. and you _are!_ You took care of me and saved my life! You’re feeding me and giving me a place to stay and you don’t have to do any of that!” She sighed heavily, burying her face in her hands. “So I guess….. I just wanted to do something nice back……”

Alphys, speechless, watched Undyne struggle to express this. It warmed her to her very soul.

With each passing day she was starting to realize that, maybe, Undyne wasn’t as two-dimensional as she had originally thought.

“It’s….. it’s okay, Undyne.” The Scientist told her, and the other cautiously lifted her head to look at her. “T-thank you, for thinking of us…..”

 

When Undyne gave her a bright smile, Alphys felt her world spin just a bit out of place.

\---

“H-hey, Undyne?” Alphys asked cautiously as she approached the other, who was sitting at a table and scribbling something illegible on a piece of paper with Papyrus’s phone number printed on the top. They gave it to her to call Papyrus whenever she pleased, and showed her to match the numbers to the keys on the phone, but Undyne was more fascinated with doodling all over the paper (which Alphys found somewhat adorable), and she had almost immediately memorized the number, anyway.

“Yeah?”

“Are you, um, busy? R-right now?”

Undyne sighed, shaking her head. “Nah, I was trying to call Papyrus- but he won’t pick up!”

Alphys glanced over at the clock. “Oh. W-well, it’s already 8:30. Th-that’s passed the bedtime he assigns for himself….” She supplied helpfully.

“Yeah, but I haven’t spoken to him in like, six hours!!!!” She complained, sprawling her upper body on the table dramatically.

Alphys tried not to laugh. “Its, uh, only been two.”

Undyne suddenly looked a little bashful. “Whatever!!”

Alphys fumbled with the notebook and pen she had, until Undyne glanced up and gave her a curious look.

“What’s up?”

“I just, uh…….. Was wondering if i could……. A-ask you some questions?” She held up the pen and notebook. “For science?”

“For science?” Undyne repeated, and Alphys nodded, so she shrugged. “Uh, I guess so?”

Alphys, now excited, hurried to sit in across from her. She wrote what she assumed was the correct spelling of Undyne’s name.

“O-okay, so…… uh, first question,” Alphys marked a little bullet point down under a list. Undyne noticed suddenly how cramped and messy the paper was. “S-so, you have gills, right….?”

Undyne gave her a confused look, but nodded. “You mean these, right?” She asked as she lifted the side of her shirt, exposing a few along her torso.

“Woah….” Alphys whispers in amazement, leaning over so she could get a closer look. Hesitantly, Undyne lets her. Alphys hastily doodles something resembling Undyne, and marks where her gills lie on the figure.

“So….. How do you breathe outside of the water?”

Undyne roughly lowers the black tanktop she was lent to wear. It was between that, and Papyrus’s jogboy shirt. And she didn’t want to make him part with it. “I dunno. How do _you_ breathe outside of water?”

Alphys gave her a confused expression. “Um. Lungs?”

Undyne crossed her arms and huffed. “Whatever those are.”

Alphys smiled a bit to herself, amused. “They’re like…….. Gills. But inside.”

She doodled a small picture of where they would lie on the Undyne drawing, and Undyne ‘ _ohhh_ ’d with interest. She also liked that Alphys drew her with more badass muscles than she had.

“I’m, uh, gonna guess it’s a combination via Soul, l-like most of us….” Alphys jotted down. Undyne replied in agreement. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but Doctor Alphys had proven to be intelligent, so Undyne figured she was probably right.

“Gills are probably just for show, then….” Alphys mumbled as she wrote. “Assimilation….”

Undyne glared, but said nothing.

“Okay, n-next!” Alphys looked up. “Are there others like you?”

Undyne didn’t like how that was phrased, but brushed it off. “What do you mean?”

“Monsters living off the surface. Beings with Souls.”

“Oh.” Undyne frowned. “No.”

“W-what?” Alphys wasn’t expecting that. “What do you mean…?”

“I mean I haven’t really met anyone like me not on the surface.”

Alphys frowned now. “That makes no sense.”

Undyne shrugged. “You say that a lot when I tell you things. Does everything need to make sense?”

“N-no, I mean,” Alphys wracked her brain, trying to hypothesize an explanation. “How have you developed… a-alone?”

Undyne scribbled on her own paper absentmindedly. “I dunno.”

Alphys sighed. “That’s not very helpful….”

“Well, what do you _want_ me to say?!” Undyne suddenly started, defensively, which caused Alphys to jump a little. “I just don’t know!! Why do you live with Mettaton?! That’s just how it is!”

After her outburst, she huffed with frustration and pressed harder against her doodle of herself and Papyrus. They were making sandcastles on the beach, like that one time many months ago.

Alphys fell silent for a while, watching Undyne with a somewhat sad expression.

“.....S-sorry,” She said, forcing herself to be more professional. “L-let’s move on. Do you have other fins?”

\---

“Yeah, well, sorry darling but, you’re a complete mess sometimes.”

“Mettaton!”

“I said no offense!”

Undyne perked up from where she was messing with a history book Alphys gave her earlier. She couldn’t really understand it, but she thought the monochromatic photos of killer robots, flowery swordsman, and magical girls were pretty cool. She wished she hadn’t missed this era of history.

“N-no you didn’t!”

“Oh.” A pause. “Well, it was implied.”

Undyne snuck over and peered into the kitchen doorway, curiously.

Alphys made a frustrated sigh, grabbing a soda from the fridge.

“W-well, it’s fine. I’ll just………” Alphys paused, examined the label. “Die, or something.”

“ _What?!_ ” Undyne exclaimed, making Alphys jump and the both of them turning to face her. “What are you talking about? Nobody’s dying!”

“Undyne-”

“What’s going on, Alphys?! Who’s hurting you?!” Undyne brandished a spear. “I’ll kill ‘em!”

“No! N-no, no!” Alphys put the soda down, raising her hands to stop Undyne from getting carried away. “I d-didn’t mean it like that!”

Mettaton laughed, much to Undyne’s annoyance.

“And you!” Undyne glared at Mettaton, who seemed unphased. “Don’t talk to Alphys like that!”

“What?” Mettaton asked with genuine confusion.

“Quit looking down on her so much- you’re always doing that!!”

“Undyne…….” Alphys whined, and Mettaton laughed even more, poked at Alphys’s face and headed out of the kitchen.

“Forgive me, O knight in shining armor!”

Alphys stopped Undyne before she charged after him, laughing a bit herself.

“W-what’s gotten into you?”

“I’m sick of him always talking to you like that!”

“Undyne,” Alphys was still smiling a little, which was confusing to Undyne. “We’re not being serious. It’s just teasing. B-besides, he gives as good as he gets.”

“What?”

Alphys took a sip from her soda, trying to think of how to explain it.

“Do you remember when I told you about how, s-sometimes, there’s specific types of relationships in nature…..?”

Undyne nodded enthusiastically. She did. “Simba-oasis!”

Alphys laughed a little again. “Symbiosis.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Undyne replied, a bit embarrassed.

“Well, t-that’s kind of like us. We watch out for each other, e-even if it doesn’t seem like it…..”

“It doesn’t.” Undyne confirmed. She watched Alphys fall silent for a moment, sort of stare at the counter with a distant look.

“Well, we do.”

Undyne frowned. She wasn’t really convinced.

“Well… then what was all that dying stuff?!”

“O-oh, umm….” Alphys quickly grew awkward, and fidgeted with her soda’s tab.

“Alphys thinks the mail-woman is cute!” Mettaton called from the other room.

Alphys covered her face with embarrassment, and groaned. “S-stop it!” She called back.

_“Undyne, have you ever had a crush on someone?” Papyrus asked one night, with a happy sigh as he stared up at the stars._

_“Have I ever wanted to crush someone?” Undyne repeated. “Yeah! Plenty of-”_

_“No, no!” Papyrus huffed. “A crush! Its when you like-like someone, and you think they’re very cute, and you want to take them on dates!”_

_Undyne blinked._

_“And kiss them- and hold hands! And cook for them! And protect them- stuff like that!”_

_“Ohh,” Undyne thought about it for a moment. “Like a mate?”_

_Papyrus hummed, and began to explain. “I don’t think it’s the same way you’re thinking- it’s more like…..”_

“Poor, poor Alphys, destined to a life of fanfiction and never getting action!”

“Sh-shush!” Alphys called back, following the robot into the other room. “Or you won’t get EX back anytime soon!”

“You should bring her flowers tomorrow, and compliment her eyes!” Mettaton encouraged.

Undyne felt uncomfortable, suddenly, and she wasn’t sure why.

 

—-

Mettaton was glad Undyne had learned the wonders of silently laying on the floor and feeling like garbage, he thought as he flipped to the next page in the fashion magazine he was clipping styles out of to put on a dream board. She was quiet this way, and he could still keep an eye on her while Alphys was out.

And by out, he meant downstairs, feeding the Amalgamates. Alphys leaving the house at all was rare.

He flipped the next page, made a small gasp at the beautiful jacket, and picked up scissors to clip it out.

“O-oh my _god_!!” He suddenly heard Alphys’s voice call, and the smaller monster rushed into the room. She dropped down to where Undyne was laying on the floor.

“Relax, darling,” Mettaton spoke as he returned to his magazine. “She’s just doing what Blooky and I used to do.”

“She’s b-b-barely breathing!!”

Mettaton’s eyes widened. “Wait- What?”

“U-Undyne!! Undyne?!” Alphys tried to call for her, fear seeping into her voice as she tried to shake her back into consciousness. Mettaton took this as his cue to hurry over as well, abandoning his project.

“H-how long was she like this?!”

“I don’t-” Mettaton shook his head. This was bad. This was _really, really_ bad. “I didn’t notice!”

“How do you not notice……?!” Alphys asked with exasperation. Mettaton realized she was trembling now.

“I just- I didn’t think anything of it!!” He defended. “I thought she was just- laying down!”

“Doing _what_?”

“Feeling like garbage!”

Alphys teared up, trying to lightly slap the sides of Undyne’s face to jolt her a bit. Nothing helped.

Mettaton was about to remove Alphys from the scene when he noticed the start of a panic attack, but Undyne managed to mumble something. It wasn’t intelligible, but it was at least a sign that she was alive.

“Wh-what…….?” Alphys tried to coax Undyne to speak, and the few times she managed, it just sounded like a weird gasping, gulping noise.

Almost like a fish out of………

“Alphys!!” Mettaton gasped as he hurried to the kitchen. “Alphys- _water_! She needs water!!”

Mettaton almost crashed into the sofa on his rush back over to the two, where Alphys was already chattering about how much of an idiot she was. He wasted no time in dumping the two bottles all over Undyne, as well as all over their carpet.

Undyne gasped, sputtered, coughed against the water, but it worked almost instantly. Her chest violently collapsed and expanded as she hoarsely spoke the words “ _‘ts too hot_ ……”

That was the day Alphys and Mettaton learned that Undyne wouldn’t be able to wear the metal armor Papyrus bought for her to wear yesterday (she refused pretty much all the other clothing options), and that their house was, in fact, going to have to remain under 65 degrees at all times.

\---

Alphys had a “numb day” again. The first she had since Undyne arrived.

She felt it as soon as she woke up. The world was a static blur around her. Her movements were stiff, emotionless, and she couldn’t remember doing them in the first place.

Sometime throughout the day, she glanced down. She noticed three empty boxes of Spider cookies. She didn’t remember eating this many.

She tried to work. Passing by the basement made her shaky. Standing at her desk felt unproductive.

Instead, she curled up on the sofa, mindlessly watched TV, and begged for it to pass. Beg for an uneventful day. Beg for her Soul not to ache so much and her heart not to pound so loud and her mind not to race so fast. She felt so completely empty and yet, everything around her was happening too fast.

She rewatched her favorite anime for the 7th time. She rewatched one of the episodes three times- every time she got 10 minutes in she realized she hadn’t retained any of it.

Undyne tried to talk to her. A lot. Alphys felt so terrible because she couldn’t keep up with anything besides the own horrible thoughts in her own head.

At night, Undyne tried to bring her tea. She actually brought her 5 tea bags dropped in cold water.

Alphys appreciated it. It gave her an excuse to get up and fix something for once. To get off the sofa she was wallowing in her depressive episode on all day.

Alphys wondered if maybe that was Undyne’s plan in the first place.

 

\---

Alphys, exhausted, took a moment to lay her head against the kitchen counter, procrastinating having to clean up yet _another_ mess Undyne caused. It was surprising, really, that Undyne was still standing. Moving. Fighting. Living.

Alphys was sure she was a goner after the DT, but here she was, walking and talking and breaking their tables, plates, and putting too much soap in the laundry.

Alphys was starting to wonder how much of it was accidental, yet, she couldn’t bring herself to scold her half the time. Sometimes because of Undyne’s genuine apologies, and sometimes because she was……..

Well, because Alphys was still somewhat scared of her, if she was being completely honest.

Undyne was a wild card. A DT explosion waiting to happen.

Alphys wondered how long she could keep her alive as long as she kept her calm. Undyne was a new breakthrough in this experiment she had long since abandoned. She couldn’t let it slip through her fingers so easily.

Still, she sometimes wished Undyne wasn’t as violent as she was, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and Alphys’s couldn’t be lucky.

“Alphys! Alphys, darling, guess what!” Mettaton, now fully repaired in a shiny new  EX body, ran in, excitedly bouncing up and down in place.

“Wh-”

“You’re taking too long! That human telecasting network called me back!!” He practically squealed, and as soon as it registered, Alphys turned to him with excitement.

“MTT! That’s- that’s amazing!!”

“I have to go to the network right away!” He smiled brightly, excited. Ecstatic. And he should be- and opportunity to get a monster’s show on a human channel? Unheard of- but if someone was going to do it, it would be Mettaton.

“Y-yes, yes! Oh my god, hurry- go to the network!” Alphys urged.

“I am, I am- I’ll be back in a couple days!”

Wait.

Wait.

“W-wait- wait…!” Alphys called out as Mettaton tried to rush out of the house. “D-days?”

Mettaton gave an apologetic, tense grin. “Yes. They said if they were to try this- they wanted to shoot for a couple days straight to make sure…….”

Alphys watched him with fear. Days. A few days with……..

“Alphys….” Mettaton quitely pleaded. “This would be _big_.”

With Undyne.

Alone. With Undyne.

She gripped onto the kitchen towel she had been cleaning the sink up with.

“R-right. You’re right, MTT.” Alphys forced a smile, he could tell. She could tell he could tell. “You should go. R-right away.”

“Are you sure?” He frowned, uncertainty creeping up on him now.

“Are you kidding…?!” Alphys laughed. Forced. “Go. We’ve been waiting f-forever for this!”

Mettaton gave her a grateful smile, rushed over to crush her in a robotic hug, and then hurried out of the house.

“It’ll be okay, darling, I promise! And once I’m back, we can celebrate! Big- I’m thinking we go to an expensive restaurant in a Human District!”

Alphys laughed. Tried not to let her anxiety weigh her down. Tried not to think about how hellish the last week of her life had been. Tried to be happy for Mettaton.

“Y-You got it, superstar.”

\---

“Oh.” Alphys commented, as she stared up at their stairwell ceiling.

She found the third spear.

\---

“Aaaaand, right there!” Undyne pointed to the small drawing of herself on Alphys’s notebook that Alphys was using to label her anatomy.

“Wow. Interesting….” Alphys mumbled with genuine interest, happily jotting down any and all information Undyne was providing her.

“Can I ask about….?” Alphys motioned to Undyne’s eye (or lack thereof). Undyne seemed a little embarrassed.

“Er…… Bad run-in with a swordfish.” She paused. “And a fisherman’s hook.”

“Oh my god….!” Alphys said with sympathy, but Undyne shrugged.

“It was already damaged and didn’t function from the swordfish- the hook was just insult to injury.”

“I-I’m so sorry….” Alphys apologized genuinely, though she had nothing to do with either incident.

“Hey…” Undyne said after a moment, and Alphys glanced up. “.... Earlier, when you asked me if I was alone my whole life……. That’s not…..completely true.”

Alphys’s eyes widened with excitement. “I knew it! I was wondering how you had learned how to use speech trapped alone down there….!”

“I wasn’t _trapped_!!” Undyne shouted.

“R-right! Sorry, sorry! Bad wording!” She brought the notebook up to cover her face with embarrassment.

“....” Undyne frowned, looking away. “It’s okay. Just…. When I was younger, there was someone who taught me just about everything I know.”

Alphys watched with inviting eagerness, encouraging Undyne to continue.

It took her a moment.

“Someone I used to admire, a lot. He was from the surface, I think?” Undyne continued, wondering why it was suddenly easier to talk about this when she was talking to Alphys. “But he used to come down to the water all the time. He saw a bunch of bandits messing with me, and he chased them off.” She paused, a sad smile spreading across her face. “He was so cool! He taught me how to fight, how to act, how to fend for myself!! He told me all these stories about war, and weapons, and….”

She frowned. “He always told me the surface was dangerous, because humans still didn’t like monsters like us. He told me it would be safer to stay in the ocean, that humans would try to turn on monsters, and it was the only way to guarantee I would be safe from humans...”

Undyne gripped onto the pencil she was scribbling with earlier. Alphys wondered if it was snap under her hand.

“.... D-do you remember his name?”

Undyne nodded. “Gerson.”

Alphys jotted down the name, for reference later.

\---

“Hey, Alphys,” Undyne asked one day, suddenly. She had been watching her from her spot on the corner of the sofa, the one that was opposite where Mettaton usually sat when he didn’t sprawl his legs across the entire thing, but Alphys tried desperately to not let her know she was fully aware (and nervous) under her gaze. Undyne had been watching her for the better part of 40 minutes now, as if examining her. As if trying to force together a puzzle that was missing its inner pieces.

She didn’t look up from her typing on her laptop as she nodded, showing Undyne that she had her attention.

(Though she almost always did).

“Do you like the beach?”

Alphys froze. Glanced up at Undyne. Felt her throat go dry.

“W-what?”

“The beach. Do you ever go?”

Alphys took a moment to ignore the bitter voice inside her head that reminded her of her last expedition to the beach.

“....N-not really.” She lied, it was easy. It was harmless.

“Not ever?” Undyne asked with a furrowed brow, as if an equation in her head didn’t add up.

Alphys felt nervous, so she continued to click at the keys on her laptop. She had to press harder on the G- that was the one that Undyne accidentally jammed earlier. It was driving her crazy, very, very slowly.

“Not anymore.”

“How come?”

Alphys fell silent, tried to make sense of the last sentence she typed, but it was all warbled under the grip of anxiety on her Soul.

Undyne moved to ask something else instead, noticing this: “When was the last time you went?”

Alphys gulped, her fingers trembled. “D-don’t remember, sorry.”

Undyne seemed unsatisfied, but left it at that.

\---

It wasn’t that Alphys was avoiding Undyne.

She tiptoed around the kitchen to grab a snack, and hurried back to the sofa, where she was rewatching Ouran Highschool Host Club.

It was that she was……

That she was avoiding Undyne.

Listening, she could hear her chattering happily to Papyrus on the phone, so she calmed down and hoped it wouldn’t result in any damaged furniture.

She felt so terrible. It wasn’t that she wanted to avoid Undyne! It was just……

Awkward. Awkward without the filter of Mettaton to keep conversation going.

It wasn’t even that she didn’t find Undyne interesting- as a matter of fact, Undyne was probably one of the most interesting Monsters she had ever met!

It was just….

Undyne was too blunt. Too tall. Too loud. Too confident. Too intimidating. Too much of everything Alphys admired and knew she would never be.

Oh. And also that they had zero to talk about.

It was so obvious, too. Undyne tried, almost desperately, to form some sort of connection with Alphys since Mettaton had left yesterday morning. Alphys was too awkward, and Undyne was too rough. It was better to just keep Undyne at a distance, anyway. Getting attached would be bad. It would backfire. Something was bound to happen to all that DT sooner or later. Being friends would be bad. It would be best to treat Undyne like a patient, no matter how badly she yearned for some sort of deeper connection...

She tried not to think about it too much, and focused more on the romance between Tamaki and Haruhi.

She wished she could be like that. Have a cute romance with a cute person and fall in love. She sighed wistfully and hugged her pillow as the credits for the finale began to roll. The ending always was so upsetting.

“What’s going on in here?” Undyne called from the doorway, seemingly having finished her conversation with Papyrus.

“O-oh. You know….” Alphys shrugged. “Just……”

“Is that some more of that cool human history stuff?!” Undyne asked excitedly, hurrying over and springing onto the sofa, next to Alphys.

Entirely too close to Alphys. She felt her face heat up.

“Um.” Why was this such a loaded question? “Yes.” Why did she just lie? Why did it matter? Why was she worried about Undyne thinking she was a weird nerd?

“Awesome!!” Undyne clapped. Alphys felt so guilty.

“But, uh…. It just finished.” Alphys tried to ignore the disappointed expression on Undyne’s face. “S-sorry.” She apologized as she returned to the anime list.

“Oh! Lets watch another then!” Undyne supplied, and Alphys felt bad for dreading this.

“What about that one?” Undyne stopped Alphys’ scrolling. “That looks cool!! What’s it say?”

“‘ _My Hero Academia_ ’?” Alphys mumbled to herself, and Undyne cheered jovially at the familiar word.

“Hero!! That’s gotta be cool!! Is it cool, Alphys? Have you seen it before?”

Alphys shook her head. “N-not really…”

“Perfect!” Undyne moved closer to Alphys and patted her arm. “Press play! Press play!”

Alphys nervously fumbled with it and hit play. “Okay, okay…!”

She hoped it wasn’t weird.

 

They ended up binging the first season in one sitting.

Turns out, Undyne really liked action-type anime- especially reenacting the moves.

Turns out, Alphys really enjoyed watching Undyne reenacting the action moves.

 

\---

After that, conversation flowed like water.

“Wow!” Undyne exclaimed, holding her hand up to Alphys’s smaller one. “You’re so tiny!”

Alphys laughed. “I mean, I wouldn’t say that……..”

“Are you kidding?” Undyne poked Alphys’s side, who yelped. “I could fit you in the palm of my hand!”

Alphys rolled her eyes. “That’s exaggerated. C-can I have my hand back now, please?” She laughed, pulling her hand away so she could finish picking up Undyne’s hair into a ponytail (she had offered once they managed to find one of Mettaton’s hairties).

“Better?”

Undyne nodded. “Yeah. Thanks!”

Alphys smiled at her, which just caused Undyne to grin back at her.

After a moment, they both got embarrassed and laughed a little, breaking eye contact.

Undyne took this as a chance to join Alphys on her bed, and she jumped forcefully onto it- forcefully enough to make Alphys bounce a bit.

“C-careful!” Alphys tried to warn, but Undyne clearly did not heed it as she pounced and tackled Alphys.

“Wh-what are you doing?!” Alphys exclaimed nervously, but Undyne laughed.

“See! You fit right in my arms!”

“What’s your p-point?” The scientist asked with a blush.

“I dunno.” Undyne shrugged. She released Alphys after a moment. “It’s nice to know.”

Alphys gave her a weird look, tried to pretend her Soul didn’t flutter and squeeze at those words. It was late, and Alphys didn’t trust her late night feelings. Especially not when her and Undyne were laying next to each other in her room, having conversation that flowed the easiest it had ever in Alphys’s life. She wasn’t sure what had suddenly changed, but Undyne and her now spent all day hanging about, talking about nonsense and playing video games. Reading stories (or rather, Alphys having to read it to Undyne, who listened intently), drawing, showing Undyne how to garden. Showing her how to work simple things, like a microwave, or a calculator, or a TV remote. Wanting to show Undyne everything she possibly could, getting excited when Undyne was eager to learn it all. Learning that Undyne was a natural at music, as she messed with Mettaton’s old keyboard- having the off thought that they should purchase a piano one day for her.

As if Undyne’s residence was anything other than temporary.

 

Alphys didn’t know what she was doing, and yet, for the first time in her life, she found herself just going with the flow. She liked how easily Undyne was able to wedge into her life once they found the same wavelength to be on.

—-

**_ALPHYS (@alphys):_ **

how long into a friendship until u can show them ur mew mew kissy cutie rarepairs. asking for a friend

—-

That night, Alphys decided to introduce Undyne to Disney movies. They decided on Aladdin, because Undyne saw a sword on the cover art.

“.... Can I be honest with you, Alphys?” Undyne asked, as _A Whole New World_ came to a close.

Alphys turned to look at the new friendship blossoming to her right, her Soul still drumming happily with the sweet romance of the song. “Hm?”

“I like…..” Undyne made a gesture with her hands, one that didn’t make much sense, but allowed her to gather her words. “I like doing this. Just us. Without Mettaton.”

Alphys laughed, and poked Undyne’s side the same way she had earlier.

“C-come on, I know you guys don’t get along, but-”

“No, no!” Undyne sat up to clarify. “Not like that! I mean- I don’t really _dislike_ him…. He’s just weird. But i mean- just us being together. Like this.” Alphys felt herself turn red at the weighted words. Weighted, and yet, Undyne didn’t even seem to notice. “I like it.”

_‘A thrilling chase….’_

“M-me too.” Alphys admitted, and she was rewarded with Undyne’s sharp,pointy, and bright smile.

_‘A wondrous place……’_

It was true. Alphys liked it much better when she was focused on learning about Undyne as a person, and not as an experiment. So she tried to pretend for a while she wasn’t worried about it.

_‘For you and me…….’_

\---

Mettaton felt overwhelmed.

Pulling up to his driveway, he sighed with exhaustion. He’d just spent a couple days at the network- pitching the show, pitching himself, pitching how great the opportunity would be for both parties, organizing a show, negotiating the importance of a primarily monster cast, dealing with his assistant’s complaints, a photo shoot for a potential pilot, _shooting_ said pilot.

_“Thank you for your time, Mettaton, we’ll get back to you with the network’s official decision soon.”_

All of that, for the chance it wouldn’t even make it past the network.

He pulled the keys from the ignition. Oh, well. That’s show business for you.

It wasn’t until he walked up to his door, did he remember he’d be walking into whatever chaotic mess Undyne had caused.

He had made Alphys message him and update her status  to make sure she was alive and okay. So he at least new Alphys was alive.

Bracing himself, he headed inside.

“Honey, I’m home…!” He called out jokingly, and waited for a reply.

Nothing.

He felt fear for a split second, before registering laughter, voices, and some music on a nearby radio.

“Alphys….?” He called out, stepping inside. He felt slightly bitter at the lack of a welcoming committee, but followed the source of the noises to the kitchen.

“H-Here, you can wash the veggies.”

“Hell yeah!” Undyne said with excitement. “C’mere, pesky veggies!”

Mettaton watched from the doorway, amazed, as Undyne helped Alphys washed the vegetables.

Actually, the most shocking part was Alphys cooking. Alphys, who notoriously lived off of soda and microwave dinners, was _cooking_.

“Can I stir, Alphy?”

 _Alphy_?

Oh.

“Y-you spilled it all last time…!” Alphys playfully shooed Undyne away once she took the vegetables from her.

This was _rich_.

Mettaton smirked as he leaned against the doorway, wondering how long he could stand and watch before they noticed he returned.

“I’ll be careful, I swear!”

“Here, why don’t you toss in the stuff I chopped up….?”

“Then, can I stir?” She asked, though she didn’t wait for a response as she tossed in said items. “You’re doing it so sloooooooowwww!”

“You’re supposed to…!”

And yet, Alphys let her stir. She was about to reprimand her for going too fast, but Undyne gasped at a song on the music player.

“This is from the history movie, Alphy!”

Funny, Mettaton could’ve sworn this was _Tale as Old As Time_.

Undyne didn’t leave room for Alphys to explain, because she pulled Alphys away from the stove and tried to waltz around the room with her.

Emphasis on tried. They knocked over about 5 things in the process, Alphys couldn't stop laughing, and Undyne kept switching between the male and female parts.

He couldn’t help himself any longer, this was such a trainwreck. And at this rate, he might as well not exist to these two.

“Oh, my!” Mettaton said in sing-song, startling them both to a rapid halt.

“M-Mettaton!” Alphys gasped, and Mettaton saw how quickly her face filled with blush. “You’re back!”

“Indeed, I am.” He smirked.

“H-how’d it go?”

“They said they’ll get back to me- let’s discuss it later. What’s going on in here?”

“Cooking!” Undyne said with excitement, but Mettaton could see she was hiding the embarrassment Alphys was displaying openly.

“I meant the domesticity in the air- but I also am surprised at that as well. Alphys, cooking?’

Alphys gave a bashful shrug. “W-Welcome back meal?”

“Ah, yes, along with welcome back  historical masterpiece music of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast?”

Alphys gave a nervous laugh, breaking eye contact with Mettaton.

“S-something like that.”

“Well,” Mettaton waltzed over to where Undyne was violently stirring again, humming along to the song coming to an end in the background of such a scene. “It looks promising, _Alphy_.”

Alphys groaned, buried her face with her hands. “Let me die….”

Mettaton’s laughter bubbled up out of him, and he reached over and flicked some of the water running by the sink at Undyne, dashing away as she tried to chase him with the spoon.

 

\---

Undyne, getting up for some water later that night, took a glance at the mysterious stairs. The ones that led to the room Alphys warned her not to ask about.

 

It took tremendous determination to keep walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also can u believe this is the halfway point of this fic??omg?


End file.
